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THE  WONDERFUL 
STORY  OF  WASHINGTON 


The  ingenuous  youth  of  America  will  hold  up  to  themselves 
the  bright  model  of  Washington's  example,  and  study  to  be  what 
they  behold  ;  they  will  contemplate  his  character,  till  all  his  virtues 
spread  out  and  display  themselves  to  their  delighted  vision  ;  as  the 
earliest  astronomers,  the  shepherds  on  the  plains  of  Babylon,  gazed 
at  the  stars  till  they  saw  them  form  into  clusters  and  constellations 
overpowering  at  length  the  eyes  of  the  beholders  with  the  united 
blaze  oi  a  thousand  lights." — WEBSTER. 


Inspiration  Series  of  Patriotic  Americans 

THE 

WONDERFUL  STORY 
OF  WASHINGTON 


AND  THE  MEANING  OF  HIS  LIFE 
FOR  THE  YOUTH  AND  PAT- 
RIOTISM OF  AMERICA 


BY  C.  M.  STEVENS 
Author  of  "The  Wonderful  Story  of  Lincoln" 


NEW  YORK 
CUPPLES  &  LEON  COMPANY 


Copyright,  1917,  by 
CUPPLES  &  LEON  COMPANY 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.    INTRODUCTORY  CONSIDERATIONS  .    .    *    «    *    ,    t       1 

American  Patriotism  and  the  Meaning  of  America. 
Washington's  Early  Surroundings. 

II.    THE  BOY  WITH  A  WILL  AND  A  WAY   •    •    •    •    •       6 

Early  Circumstances  of  the  First  American  Hero. 
A  Community  Proud  of  Its  Family  Honor. 
The  Self-Pity  and  Sentimentalism  of  Youth. 

III.  BEGINNINGS  OF  EXPERIENCE  IN  BORDER  WARFARE      16 

Getting  Used  to  Roughing  It 

Land    Speculation    as    the    Beginning    Leading   to 

American  Self-Government 
The  Struggle  for  the  Indian's  Hunting  Grounds. 

IV.  THE  EIVALRY  AND  DIPLOMACY  OF  THE  FRONTIER   .      26 

The  First  Great  Problems  of  the  Indians. 
Alarm  for  the  Future. 
Indifference  to  Great  Interests. 

V.    THE  CONSEQUENCE  OF  ARROGANCE  AND  IGNORANCE      35 

Annoyances  and  Antagonisms. 

Dishonors  and  Disasters. 

Washington  Entering  the  School  of  War. 

VI.    THE  STRUGGLE  FOR  FORT  DUQUESNE 46 

The  Separation  Beginning  Between  the  Colonies  and 

England. 

Lessons  Gathered  from  Defeat. 
Some  Personal  Interests  at  Home. 

VII.    THE  FATE  OF  THE  OHIO  VALLEY    .......      57 

Frontier  Fears  and  Panics. 

Political  Intrigue  and  Official  Confusion. 

"A  Matter  of  Great  Admiration." 

VIII.    THE  BEGINNING  SIGNS  OF  A  GREAT  REVOLUTION  .      66 

Military  Victory  and  a  Happy  Marriage. 

Life  Fulfilled  as  a  Virginia  Country  Gentleman. 

The  Momentous  Struggle  Between  Might  and  Right 


1823632 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

IX.    SOWING  THE  WIND  AND  REAPING  THE  WHIRLWIND      77 

Mount  Vernon  at  First  in  a  Zone  of  Calm. 
Giving  the  Appearance  and  Keeping  the  Substance. 
"Soft  Words  Butter  No  Parsnips." 

X.    ANTAGONISMS  AND  HOSTILITIES 90 

Blazing  the  Way  to  War. 

The  Double-Quick  March  to  Revolution. 

Violence  and  Flattery  as  Methods  of  Mastery. 

XI.    GREAT  MINDS  IN  THE  GREAT  STORM 100 

Suppressing  Americans. 

The  Business  of  Getting  Ready. 

Many  Men  of  Many  Minds. 

XII.    THE  HOUSE  LONG  DIVIDED  AGAINST  ITSELF    .    .    Ill 

Unpatriotic  Confusion  of  Opinions  and  Interests. 

Sometimes  Too  Late  to  Mend. 

Selecting  the  Leader  of  Liberty  for  America. 

XIII.  LARGE  BODIES  MOVE  SLOWLY 126 

The  First  Commander-in-Chief. 

Big  Business,  Money-Makers  and  Patriotism. 

The  Strong  Mind  for  Great  Needs. 

XIV.  TURNING  REVOLUTION  INTO  GOVERNMENT  ....    136 

Seeking  Retirement  for  Life. 

Freedom  and  the  Wrangle  for  Personal  Gain. 

Laying  the  Foundations  of  Liberty  and  Law. 

XV.    THE  PEACE  OF  HOME  AT  LAST 150 

Sorrow  for  the  Departed  Scenes. 

Crowned  in  the  Fullness  of  Time. 

A  Life-Like  Scene  from  Washington's  Home  Life. 

XVI.    STANDARDS  OF  AMERICAN  PATRIOTISM 163 

Foundations. 

Freedom  of  the  Western  Hemisphere. 

The  Loyalty  of  Youth. 

XVII.     CONCLUDING   REFLECTIONS 176 

The  Washington  Ideal  as  the  American  Ideal. 
Not  Birth  But  Character  Makes  Americans. 
The  American  Lesson  ^Learned   from  the  Greatest 
Leaders  in  the  Making  of  America. 


WASHINGTON 

AND  AMERICAN  LIBERTY 


CHAPTER  I 
INTRODUCTORY  CONSIDERATIONS 

I.      AMERICAN  PATRIOTISM  AND  THE  MEANING  OF 

AMERICA 

"AMERICA  for  Americans "  is  a  patriotic  appeal 
that  has  arisen  in  many  a  political  crisis,  and  then 
gone  to  pieces  in  the  confusions  of  what  we  mean  by 
"Americans"  and  " America."  American  Liberty 
has  been  a  goddess  of  worship  from  the  beginning, 
and  yet  we  find  ourselves  in  an  endless  turmoil  con- 
cerning what  we  mean  by  "American  liberty." 

Washington  and  his  associate  patriots  wrote  a 
great  definition  in  history  and  established  that  defi- 
nition in  the  Declaration  of  Independence  and  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States,  but  human  mean- 
ing, like  the  skies,  seems  hard  to  get  clear  and  to  keep 
clear.  To  know  clearly  what  the  definition  of  free- 

1 


2          TEE  STORY  OF  WASHINGTON 

dom  means  and  to  promote  it  in  the  right-minded 
way,  is  the  patriotism  that  identifies  anyone  any- 
where as  being  American.  The  makers  of  America 
loved  the  right-minded  way,  and  their  primary  test 
of  justice  unfailingly  required,  as  a  basis,  the  per- 
sonal liberty  that  has  been  described  to  us  by  all  as 
freedom  to  do  the  right  that  wrongs  no  one.  To  these 
" rights  of  man,"  they  gave  "the  last  full  measure  of 
devotion,"  as  Lincoln  defined  patriotism,  for  "the 
birth  of  a  new  freedom  under  God." 

The  public-school  youth,  who  is  not  in  one  way  or 
another  familiar  with  the  Americanism  of  Washing- 
ton and  Lincoln,  is  not  yet  prepared  either  for  col- 
lege or  for  life,  and,  still  more  clearly,  is  not  prepared 
to  be  an  American.  The  number  of  un- Americans  in 
America  may,  in  some  crisis,  become  appalling,  if,  in 
fact,  they  do  not  succeed  in  Europeanizing  America. 
Against  that  possibility  there  is  nothing  to  save  us, 
if  we  do  not  save  ourselves  as  our  hereditary  task  of 
American  patriotism. 

Washington  and  Lincoln  are  the  two  incomparable 
constructive  ideals  of  American  liberty  and  man- 
hood. The  two  lives  together  complete  the  meaning 
of  America.  Washington  began  his  life  with  a  super- 
abundance of  everything  aristocratic  in  his  age.  Lin- 
coln began  his  life  in  worldly  nothingness  that  had 
indeed  nothing  for  him  but  the  democratic  wilder- 


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INTRODUCTORY  CONSIDERATIONS      3 

ness  till  he  became  a  man.  And  yet  both  became  the 
same  great  soul  in  the  same  great  cause,  the  maker 
and  preserver  of  American  civilization,  as  the  moral 
law  of  man  and  God. 

American  life  and  its  ideal  humanity  cannot  be 
understood  by  American  youth  until  the  wonderful 
character  and  struggle  of  these  two  supremely  typi- 
cal Americans  are  understood  as  the  expression  of 
the  meaning  of  America,  and  even  no  less  as  a  mean- 
ing for  the  world. 

The  Great  Teacher  said,  "  Greater  love  hath  no 
man  than  this,  that  he  will  lay  down  his  life  for  a 
friend, "  and  no  man  on  earth  has  a  greater  friend 
than  the  America  of  Washington  and  Lincoln. 


n.    WASHINGTON'S  EARLY  SURROUNDINGS 

WE  cannot  think  with  a  true  vision,  in  estimating 
the  meaning  of  colonial  and  revolutionary  days,  if  we 
allow  the  glamor  of  fame  and  the  idolatry  of  colonial 
patriotism  to  obscure  our  view  of  those  times.  There 
were  heroes  immortal  with  what  we  know  as  "the 
spirit  of  '76, ' '  but,  grading  from  them  were  the  good, 
bad  and  indifferent,  that  often  seemed  overwhelm- 
ing in  numbers. 


George  Washington  is  known  chiefly  through  the 
rather  stilted  style  of  writing  that  then  prevailed, 
and  the  puritanic  expressions  that  were  used  in  de- 
scribing commendable  conduct.  Even  Washington's 
writings  were  edited  so  as  not  to  offend  sensitive  ears, 
and  so  as  not  to  give  an  impression  to  the  reader  dif- 
ferent from  the  idealized  orthodox  character  of  that 
severe  pioneer  civilization.  The  people  were  free  in 
everything  but  social  expression.  That  was  sternly 
required  to  conform  to  a  rigid  puritanic  or  cavalier 
standard. 

Washington,  more  than  any  other  great  man,  seems 
to  have  composed  his  early  life  from  what  some  well- 
meaning  reformers  have  termed  "  copy-book  moral- 
ity;" that  is,  proverbial  morality  or  personal  rules  of 
conduct.  Washington  in  his  boyhood  wrote  out  many 
moral  sentences  as  reminders  for  his  own  guidance. 
He  was  a  persistent  searcher  after  the  right  way  to- 
ward the  right  life. 

Washington's  mother  is  described  as  being  stern 
in  business  and  moral  discipline,  even  as  having  a 
violent  temper  and  being  capable  of  very  severe  meas- 
ures to  accomplish  needed  results.  It  seems  that 
Washington,  seeing  this  method  in  both  father  and 
mother,  reinforced,  as  it  were,  by  the  military  bear- 
ing of  his  much-admired  elder  half-brother,  took  that 
form  of  life  as  his  earliest  ideal.  He  was  as  tireless 


INTRODUCTORY  CONSIDERATIONS      5 

in  perfecting  models  of  business  and  life  as  Lincoln 
was  in  mastering  the  unconventional  meaning  of 
human  beings.  Washington  at  the  ages  of  eleven  and 
twelve  delighted  to  copy  various  book-keeping  forms 
and  mercantile  documents.  His  school  books  at  that 
age  are  still  preserved  and  they  are  models  of  ac- 
curacy and  neatness.  Besides  that,  he  loved  to  dis- 
cipline himself.  He  was  always  subjecting  himself, 
either  mentally  or  physically,  to  some  kind  of  orderly 
training. 

For  one  who  was  destined  to  have  such  a  leading 
part  in  framing  a  new  nation  for  a  new  world,  such 
a  making  of  mind  seems  to  have  been  just  the  thing 
for  that  great  task. 

He  enjoyed  a  great  local  reputation  as  the  boy  who 
could  ride  any  horse  in  that  county,  and  who  could 
throw  a  stone  across  the  Rappahannock.  He  was  a 
leader  in  every  group  of  boys  to  which  he  came.  He 
drilled  them  in  military  parades  and  umpired  them 
in  their  disputes  and  games.  Students  of  the  mind- 
making  process  have  much  to  consider  in  the  com- 
parison and  analogy  of  a  boy  being  first  military 
chieftain  to  his  playmates,  and  then  step  by  step,  the 
legislator,  judge  and  chief  executive  in  their  politi- 
cal affairs,  with  the  generalship  of  a  revolution  for 
national  independence,  and  the  statesmanship  of  a 
new  empire  built  in  the  cause  of  humanity. 


CHAPTER   II 
THE  BOY  WITH  A  WILL  AND  A  WAY 

I.    EARLY  CIRCUMSTANCES  OF  THE  FIRST  AMERICAN  HERO 

1732 

GEORGE  WASHINGTON  has  his  place  in  American 
history,  not  only  as  being  the  great  commander-in- 
chief  of  the  American  revolutionary  army,  but  as 
being  no  less  influential  and  powerful  as  a  political 
leader  and  constructive  American  statesman.  He 
was  born  February  22, 1732,  in  one  of  the  wealthiest 
and  most  cultured  homes  in  America.  From  the 
front  door  of  his  father's  house,  on  the  estate  that 
was  a  few  years  later  named  Mount  Vernon,  could 
be  seen  many  miles  of  the  Potomac  River,  and  a  wide 
sweep  of  the  shores  of  Maryland.  All  that  can  enter 
into  making  life  delightful  flourished  abundantly 
about  the  cradle  of  this  child,  and  contributed  toward 
his  preparation  and  development  for  leadership,  that 
was  to  produce  a  new  power  in  the  cause  of  human 
freedom  for  the  world.  There  are  easily  seen  many 
contributing  interests  that  seemed  to  be  carefully  en- 
gaged in  fitting  him  for  the  consequential  task  of 

6 


THE  BOY  WITH  A  WILL  AND  A  WAY    1 

taking  the  divine  right  from  kings  and  giving  it  back 
to  the  people  who  alone  have  the  right  to  the  freedom 
of  the  earth. 

Very  soon  after  the  birth  of  this  child,  the  family 
moved  to  an  estate  owned  by  the  father  on  the  shores 
of  the  Rappahannock,  across  from  Fredericksburg. 

All  traditions  agree  that  the  boy's  father  was  ex- 
ceedingly careful  that  his  son  should  have  his  mind 
built  up  in  the  most  gentlemanly  honesty. 

Somehow,  as  we  trace  the  early  lives  of  great  men, 
that  word  honesty  is  always  intruding  as  of  first  im- 
portance. In  an  age  when  so  many  men  seem  to  ar- 
rive at  riches  and  power  through  intrigue  and  the 
unscrupulous  manipulation  of  means,  the  word  hon- 
esty loses  significance  and  is  looked  upon  either  as 
hypocrisy  or  a  joke.  And  yet,  such  conditions  fail 
and  the  success  does  not  succeed. 

George  Washington  was  fortunate  in  his  childhood 
protectors.  Besides  having  his  father  and  mother  to 
take  watchful  care  of  his  right  views  of  life,  there 
was  Lawrence,  fourteen  years  older  than  George. 
Lawrence  Washington  was  a  son  of  their  father's 
earlier  marriage.  He  had  been  sent  away  to  Eng- 
land to  be  educated  and  he  returned  when  George 
was  eight  years  old.  He  has  been  described  as  a 
handsome,  splendid,  gentlemanly  young  man.  He 
dearly  loved  George  and  did  all  he  could  to  give  the 


8          THE  STOEY  OF  WASHINGTON 

boy  his  honorable  ideas  of  social  and  political  life. 

In  the  midst  of  this  fraternal  interest,  at  the  most 
impressionable  age  of  a  child,  came  a  great  military 
excitement.  War  for  the  possession  of  the  West 
Indies  was  on  between  Great  Britain  and  Spain.  Ad- 
miral Vernon  had  captured  Porto  Bello  on  the  Isth- 
mus of  Darien,  and  the  Spaniards,  aided  by  the 
French,  were  preparing  to  drive  the  English  out.  A 
regiment  was  to  be  raised  in  the  Colonies  and  Law- 
rence Washington  was  eager  to  become  a  soldier. 
Such  was  his  father's  position  in  Colonial  affairs  that 
Lawrence  was  given  a  Captain's  commission  and  he 
sailed  away  in  1740. 

The  sound  of  fife  and  drum,  with  Lawrence's  en- 
listment, doubtless  excited  the  martial  spirit  in 
George,  as  is  confirmed  by  many  an  anecdote,  and 
started  him  on  the  way  to  that  knowledge  and  train- 
ing which  fitted  him  to  become  the  head  of  the  revolu- 
tionary army. 

Augustus  Washington,  George's  father,  died  sud- 
denly in  1743,  at  the  age  of  forty-nine.  He  was 
estimated  to  have  been  at  his  death  the  wealthiest 
man  in  Virginia.  At  least  he  was  able  to  leave  an 
inheritance  to  each  of  his  seven  children,  so  that  they 
were  each  regarded  as  among  the  most  extensive 
property  owners  of  that  prosperous  colony. 

Lawrence  inherited  the  estate  on  the  Potomac, 


THE  BOY  WITH  A  WILL  AND  A  WAY  9 

which  he  named  Mount  Vernon,  in  honor  of  his  com- 
mander in  the  war  with  the  Spaniards. 

George  was  eleven  years  old  when  his  father  died, 
and  he,  with  the  other  four  minor  children,  were  left 
with  their  property  to  the  guardianship  of  their 
mother. 

She  was  indeed  the  great  mother  of  a  great  man. 
Her  management  morally  and  financially  was  con- 
scientious, exact  and  admirable.  George,  being  her 
eldest  child,  was  always  her  favorite,  but,  with  scrup- 
ulous care  she  served  each  as  needed  and  with  the  un- 
stinted affection  of  a  noble  mother. 


H.      A  COMMUNITY  PROUD  OF  ITS  FAMILY  HONOR 

LAWRENCE  WASHINGTON  showed  in  many  ways  that 
he  dearly  loved  his  reliable,  busy  little  half-brother. 
George  spent  much  of  his  time  at  Mount  Yernon. 
Lawrence  had  become  quite  an  important  man  in  the 
public  estimation.  He  had  what  might  well  be  called 
a  princely  estate,  which  he  upheld  in  princely  style, 
without  offence  to  any  one,  and  with  the  admiration 
of  all  the  people. 

Next  to  him,  on  the  picturesque  Potomac  ridge, 
lived  his  father-in-law  on  the  beautiful  estate  named 


10         THE  STORY  OF  WASHINGTON 

Belvoir.  This  very  honorable  and  high-minded  gen- 
tleman was  of  an  old  aristocratic  English  family,  and 
he  was  the  manager  of  the  extensive  estates  in  Vir- 
ginia of  his  cousin,  Lord  Fairfax. 

George  Washington  grew  up  in  these  severely  aris- 
tocratic associations,  in  which  the  gentility  had  no 
snobbery  and  the  class  distinction  nothing  offensive 
beyond  the  requirements  of  merit,  culture  and  the 
manners  of  genuine  gentlemen.  Doubtless  in  ad- 
miration for  the  neatness,  cleanliness,  harmony  and 
scrupulous  morality  of  these  beautiful  homes,  he  was 
inspired  to  draw  up  his  famous  code  known  as 
"Rules  for  Behavior  in  Company  and  Conversa- 
tion." We  can  easily  imagine  that  the  visitors  he 
met  at  Mount  Vernon  and  Belvoir  were  the  very  well- 
bred  ladies  and  chivalrous  gentleman  of  a  courtly 
English  period,  among  whom  were  mingled  numer- 
ous heroic  captains  from  the  West  Indies,  whose 
chief  topics  of  conversation  were  thrilling  descrip- 
tions and  stories  of  Pirates  and  Spaniards.  Perhaps 
he  was  then  receiving  a  vision  of  international  af- 
fairs, from  a  world  view,  that  was  important  to  his 
mission  in  civilization,  even  as  Lincoln  learned  his 
country's  welfare  in  his  struggle  upward  among  the 
backwoods  commoners  of  his  times. 

That  George  was  greatly  influenced  by  the  war- 
ship heroes  he  met  is  shown  by  his  eagerness  to  join 


THE  BOY  WITH  A  WILL  AND  A  WAY    11 

the  navy.  Everybody  seemed  to  think  this  was  the 
thing  for  him  except  his  mother.  Even  her  firm  de- 
cisions were  at  last  overcome,  a  midshipman 's  place 
was  obtained  for  him  and  his  personal  effects  were 
sent  aboard  the  man-of-war,  but  the  mother  could 
not  say  good-bye  to  her  eldest  son.  She  couldn't  give 
him  up  and  she  didn't.  It  is  hardly  likely  that  the 
world,  a  hundred  years  later,  could  have  known  that 
there  ever  was  such  a  person  as  George  Washington, 
if  his  mother  had  not  changed  her  mind  and  kept 
him  from  the  boisterous  turmoil  of  the  uncertain  sea. 
However  that  may  be,  he  was  sent  to  school  instead  of 
making  a  cruise  in  the  West  Indies.  His  study  was 
mathematics  and  military  tactics,  the  very  thing  most 
needed  in  the  sublime  undertaking  that  was  to  make 
his  name  immortal. 

Strange  to  say,  he  was  known  as  a  very  bashful 
boy.  In  fact,  all  through  his  life  he  was  embarrassed 
in  the  presence  of  ladies.  A  girl  of  his  own  age,  who 
saw  much  of  him  when  he  was  a  boy,  wrote  in  later 
life,  that  "he  was  a  very  bashful  young  man."  She 
says,  "I  used  often  to  wish  that  he  would  talk  more." 

That  his  emotional  feelings  were  very  early  de- 
veloped is  quite  certain  from  his  own  diary  written 
at  that  time.  He  wrote,  with  the  usual  foolishness  of 
a  boy,  about  some  unnamed  girl  with  whom  he  was 
madly  in  love.  He  was  for  a  long  time  exceedingly 


12         THE  STORY  OF  WASHINGTON 

unhappy.  Even  his  well-disciplined  mind  and  his 
severe  regulation  of  conduct  were  no  proof  against 
the  turmoil  of  unreturned  affection.  We  have  never 
known  anything  about  this  beautiful  lodestone  that 
had  drawn  the  heart  out  of  him.  He  never  described 
her  or  told  who  she  was.  It  was  probably  merely  a 
fancy  ideal  with  which  he  clothed  some  one  utterly 
impossible  as  a  real  friend  or  mate  to  him.  Such 
queer  freaks  of  interest  have  often  happened  to  the 
emotions  of  a  growing  mind,  and  later,  the  victim 
wondered  what  was  possible  in  the  object  to  cause 
such  feelings.  In  all  likelihood,  there  was  nothing  in 
the  object  that  should  have  caused  anything  more 
than  a  just  admiration  or  respect.  But  instead,  the 
feelings  caught  on  fire  and  had  to  burn  out.  So  it 
was  with  Washington.  As  he  was  loyal  to  his  ideals, 
even  when  they  were  merely  fancy,  foolishly  wrapped 
about  some  inappropriate  object,  he  remained  de- 
voted to  his  grief  until  years  wore  out  the  memory. 


HI.      THE  SELF-PITY   AND   SENTIMENTALISM   OF   YOTJTH 

THOSE  who  like  their  hero  to  be  of  chiseled  marble 
may  be  shocked  to  think  that  George  Washington, 
"the  father  of  his  Country,"  wrote  pages  in  his 


THE  BOY  WITH  A  WILL  AND  A  WAY    13 

journal  of  foolish  love-sighs  and  more  foolish  poetry. 
He  often  bewailed  his  "poor  restless  heart,  wounded 
by  Cupid's  dart/'  and  wrote  of  this  wounded  heart  as 
"bleeding  for  one  who  remains  pitiless  to  my  griefs 
and  woes. ' '  That  he  never  had  a  confident  to  whom 
he  could  tell  his  sacred  heart-burnings  is  indicated  by 
the  lines : 

"Ah,  woe  is  me,  that  I  should  love  and  conceal, 
Long  have  I  wished  and  never  dared  reveal." 

But  such  experiences  let  George  Washington  come 
a  little  closer  to  us  as  a  real  boy,  and  is  consolation 
for  many  a  man  who  had  a  like  foolish  spell  in  his 
youth. 

George  not  only  kept  a  tell-tale  diary,  which  has 
given  us  all  we  know  of  his  inner  life  in  youth,  but 
he  wrote  letters  in  that  journal  to  many  persons. 
Whether  those  letters  were  imaginary  or  were  actu- 
ally copies  of  real  letters  we  do  not  know.  Some  of 
these  were  written  while  visiting  the  Fairfax  family 
of  Belvoir,  after  Lord  Fairfax  had  come  there  from' 
England  as  the  head  of  the  family  interests.  He 
wrote  to  his  "dear  friend  Robin":  "My  residence  is 
at  present  at  his  lordship's,  where  I  might,  was  my 
heart  disengaged,  pass  my  time  very  pleasantly,  as 
there's  a  very  agreeable  young  lady  lives  in  the  same 


14         THE  STORY  OF  WASHINGTON 

house;  but,  as  that's  only  adding  fuel  to  the  fire,  it 
makes  me  the  more  uneasy,  for,  by  often  and  unavoid- 
ably being  in  company  with  her,  revives  my  former 
passion  for  your  Lowland  Beauty;  whereas,  was  I 
to  live  more  retired  from  young  women,  I  might  in 
some  measure  alleviate  my  sorrows  by  burying  that 
chaste  and  troublesome  passion  in  the  grave  of  ob- 
livion." 

The  " lowland  beauty"  he  refers  to  is  said  to  have 
been  Miss  Grimes,  of  Westmoreland,  who,  as  Mrs. 
Lee,  became  the  mother  of  General  Henry  Lee,  fam- 
ous in  revolutionary  times  as  Light  Horse  Harry, 
and  always  a  favorite  with  General  Washington. 

Lord  Fairfax,  to  whom  he  often  refers,  had  a 
strong  influence  on  his  life.  This  real  nobleman  had 
inherited  through  his  mother  the  Virginia  lands 
granted  to  Lord  Culpepper  by  Charles  II.  Having 
been  jilted  at  the  altar,  in  the  very  height  of  a  rather 
famous  career,  by  a  lady  who  had  a  chance  to  marry 
a  duke,  Lord  Fairfax  renounced  society  and  left  Eng- 
land for  Virginia.  He  took  a  great  liking  to  young 
George  Washington  and  they  became  companions  on 
many  a  fox-hunt. 

Presently  it  became  necessary  for  Lord  Fairfax 
to  have  his  lands  surveyed,  and.  Washington,  having 
studied  surveying,  was  chosen  for  this  task.  The 
boy,  though  now  man's  size,  was  not  yet  seventeen 


THE  BOY  WITH  A  WILL  AND  A  WAY    15 

when  he  undertook  this  very  responsible  work.  But 
here  his  careful  training  served  him  well.  Nothing 
was  ever  undertaken  by  him  until  it  had  been  thor- 
oughly thought  out,  and  success  was  thus  assured  in 
this  his  first  man-making  task.  He  still  kept  his 
journal  day  by  day,  but  it  was  now  full  of  the  busi- 
ness of  life.  The  emotional  dreams  of  his  Lowland 
Beauty  are  recorded  no  more. 

This  escape  from  self-pity  and  individual  senti- 
mentalism  is  in  line  with  Edison's  advice  to  get  busy 
at  something  useful  if  you  would  avoid  temptation 
and  foolishness.  Even  one  so  sternly  set  as  Washing- 
ton needed  to  have  his  attention  occupied  with  some- 
thing to  do,  as  employment  for  idle  hands,  in  order 
to  be  free  from  devil-ideas  sowing  artificial  interests 
in  the  growing  mind. 


CHAPTER   III 

THE  BEGINNINGS  OF  EXPERIENCE  IN 
BORDER  WARFARE 


I.      GETTING  USED  TO  ROUGHING  IT 

FROM  the  aristocratic  tables  and  home  comforts  of 
Mount  Vernon  and  Belvoir,  the  youthful  Washing- 
ton began  roughing  it  in  the  forests  and  along  the 
streams  of  the  Shenandoah.  He  had  begun  to  adapt 
himself  to  the  primitive  conditions  of  his  country  and 
to  share  the  coarse  fare  of  the  commoners  that  com- 
posed the  civilization  of  the  new  world. 

To  one  of  his  friends,  he  wrote:  "I  have  not  slept 
more  than  three  or  four  nights  in  a  bed,  but,  after 
walking  a  good  deal  all  day,  I  have  lain  down  before 
the  fire  upon  a  little  straw  or  fodder,  or  a  bearskin, 
whichever  was  to  be  had,  with  man,  wife  and  chil- 
dren, like  dogs  and  cats ;  and  happy  is  he  who  gets  the 
berth  nearest  the  fire." 

16 


THE  BEGINNINGS  OF  EXPERIENCE    17 

He  wrote  in  his  note-book  that  he  received,  when  in 
active  service,  a  doubloon  per  day,  which  was  $7.20 
in  gold  and  worth  much  more  than  that  correspond- 
ingly at  that  time.  These  first  wages  are  in  sharp 
contrast  to  those  received  by  Lincoln,  and  the  prepa- 
ration for  life  coming  to  the  two  men  was  as  notably 
different  as  their  mission  and  as  their  times. 

Soon  after  this,  "Washington,  though  only  a  boy, 
was  appointed  official  surveyor  for  the  government, 
and  so  accurate  were  his  surveys  that  they  have  ever 
remained  the  undisputed  authority.  Meantime,  he 
had  an  eye  to  the  practical,  and,  as  a  result,  the  choic- 
est parts  of  the  Shenandoah  Valley  came  into  pos- 
session of  the  Washingtons  and  remained  with  them 
for  many  generations. 

The  able  and  talented  young  gentleman  was  fre- 
quently for  long  periods  the  guest  of  Lord  Fairfax, 
after  Lord  Fairfax  had  moved  from  Belvoir  to  his 
" quarters"  beyond  the  Blue  Ridge,  which  he  had 
made  into  a  spacious  new  home  named  Greenway 
Court.  All  the  culture  of  England  was  gathered 
there  and  nothing  was  failing  to  give  the  young  man 
a  clear  idea  of  the  social  and  political  conditions  of 
the  world. 

World  history  has  much  to  do  in  making  individual 
history  and  so  it  was  with  Washington.  England 
and  France  were  rivals  and  at  war.  The  war  came 


18         THE  STORY  OF  WASHINGTON 

to  a  close,  and,  so  anxious  was  each  for  peace,  that 
they  settled  their  home  differences  and  left  to  the 
future  their  rivalry  for  territory  in  North  America. 
It  then  became  a  race  for  them,  who  could  occupy  and 
defend  territory  the  most  rapidly.  The  vast  over- 
lapping claims  ran  down  from  the  Saint  Lawrence 
River  to  the  Ohio  River  and  on  to  the  Mississippi. 

French  explorers  had  certainly  been  the  first  to 
pass  through  that  region  and  map  out  the  territory, 
but  the  English  had  occupied  the  eastern  coast  and 
given  land  titles  that  ran  west  to  the  setting  sun. 
Evidently,  the  mother  countries  had  settled  their  dif- 
ferences in  Europe  only  to  turn  their  energies  to 
securing  and  fortifying  their  claims  in  the  new  world. 

Strange  indeed  is  the  course  of  destiny.  The  revo- 
lutionary grandmothers  used  to  recite  a  very  vague 
stanza  which  ran  as  follows : 

"A  lion  and  a  unicorn 

Were  fighting  for  the  crown 
Up  jumped  a  little  dog 
And  knocked  them  both  down." 

At  least,  England  lost  most  of  its  possessions  in 
North  America,  France  lost  all,  and  a  little  nation 
appeared  that  was  the  cradle  of  liberty  for  mankind 
and  the  unsurpassable  maker  of  a  greater  world. 


THE  BEGINNINGS  OF  EXPERIENCE    19 


H.      LAND  SPECULATION  AS  THE  BEGINNING  LEADING  TO 
AMERICAN  SELF-GOVERNMENT 

WE  may  reasonably  find  a  beginning  of  the  Ameri- 
can republic,  involving  the  career  of  George  Wash- 
ington, in  the  formation  of  what  is  known  as  the  Ohio 
Company.  If  this  company  had  been  formed  of  un- 
scrupulous speculators,  as  were  other  big  franchises 
granted  by  kings,  it  could  well  have  been  a  near-rela- 
tive to  the  get-rich-quick  manias  that  present  so  queer 
a  view  of  men's  minds,  not  only  in  those  days  but 
even  in  present  times.  But  such  honorable  men  as 
Lawrence  and  Augustine  Washington  were  promi- 
nent in  that  company,  and  it  was  not  long  till  Law- 
rence had  chief  management  of  the  company. 

A  very  significant  controversy  concerning  freedom 
of  conscience  arose  in  the  endeavor  to  induce  the 
Dutch  from  Pennsylvania  to  settle  on  the  new  land 
grants.  These  Pennsylvanians  were  what  is  known 
as  dissenters.  They  had  a  religious  belief  of  their 
own.  If  they  moved  into  the  territory  of  the  Ohio 
Company  they  would  have  to  attend  Episcopalian 
service  and  contribute  taxes  to  the  support  of  the 
Church  of  England. 

Lawrence  Washington  was  opposed  to  the  English 


20         THE  STORY  OF  WASHINGTON 

laws  that  demanded  such  sectarian  contribution  of 
means  and  life. 

"It  has  ever  been  my  opinion, "  he  argued,  "and  I 
hope  it  will  ever  be,  that  restraints  on  conscience  are 
cruel  in  regard  to  those  on  whom  they  are  imposed, 
and  injurious  to  the  country  imposing  them.  .  .  . 
Virginia  was  greatly  settled  in  the  latter  part  of 
Charles  the  First's  time,  and  during  the  usurpation, 
by  the  zealous  churchmen ;  and  that  spirit,  which  was 
then  brought  in,  has  ever  since  continued;  so  that, 
except  a  few  Quakers,  we  have  no  dissenters.  But 
what  has  been  the  consequence  ?  We  have  increased 
by  slow  degrees,  whilst  our  neighboring  colonies, 
whose  natural  advantages  are  greatly  inferior  to 
ours,  have  become  populous. " 

This  view  may  look  as  if  it  had  been  taken  from  the 
old  saying  that  nothing  succeeds  like  success,  and  yet 
this  may,  in  the  long  run,  be  the  necessary  proof 
found  in  a  thing  being  true  as  it  works.  In  any  event, 
the  Washington  idea  was  that  of  individual  freedom, 
and  this  was  the  first  essential  in  a  mind  that  was  to 
have  such  a  large  share  in  founding  the  government 
of  America. 

The  romantic  contest  was  now  on  for  the  possession 
of  the  great  region  of  the  Ohio  and  its  tributaries. 
It  was  a  vast  wilderness  of  pathless  forests,  rich  in 
the  wild  game  that  was  then  the  fortune  of  new- world 


THE  BEGINNINGS  OF  EXPERIENCE    21 

traders.  The  friendship  of  the  Indians  was  of  the 
highest  importance  to  both  sides.  Every  effort  was 
made  by  both  French  and  English  to  form  alliances 
with  the  Indians.  The  French  addressed  themselves 
in  all  their  meetings  as  " Fathers"  to  the  Indians, 
while  the  English  always  used  the  term  "Brothers." 
It  was  clear  to  all  that  if  the  "Fathers"  won  the  al- 
legiance of  the  Indians,  the  "Brothers"  would  have 
to  go,  or  likewise  "t'other  way  'round." 

While  Mr.  Gist,  the  surveyor  of  the  Ohio  Company, 
was  finding  the  boundaries  of  their  territory,  he  was 
met  by  an  old  Delaware  Sachem  who  asked  him  a 
very  embarrassing  question. 

"The  French,"  said  the  old  Indian  chief,  "claim 
all  the  land  on  one  side  of  the  Ohio,  and  the  English 
claim  all  the  land  on  the  other  side,  now  where  does 
the  Indian's  land  lie  ?" 

The  question  was  answered  at  last  by  time.  The 
French  "Fathers"  and  the  English  "Brothers"  took 
it  all,  after  which  the  new  government  of  the  United 
States  came  into  possession,  and  the  orator  and  the 
poet  could  fittingly  say  of  the  Indians,  "Slowly  and 
sadly  they  climb  the  distant  mountains  and  read  their 
doom  in  the  setting  sun." 

But  American  responsibility,  if  not  its  humanity, 
at  last  settled  "The  Indian  Question,"  and  the  "good 
Indian"  became  a  new  American. 


22         THE  STORY  OF  WASHINGTON 

HI.      THE  STRUGGLE  OF  NATIONS  FOR  THE  INDIAN'S 
HUNTING  GROUNDS 

THE  wild  struggle  between  the  French  and  English 
that  now  took  place  in  the  wilderness,  for  the  pos- 
session of  the  Indian's  hunting  ground  could  hardly 
be  dignified  enough  to  be  called  war,  and  the  holiness 
of  its  cause  could  hardly  be  raised  higher  than  rival 
commercial  interests  working  for  something  in  which! 
neither  had  any  clear  claims.  But  it  had  a  most  mo- 
mentous consequence  on  whether  America  should  be 
French  and  Spanish  or  English  and  Spanish.  In 
those  dark  forests  where  the  dusky  savages  held  the 
balance  of  power,  to  make  the  " Fathers"  or  the 
" Brothers"  successful,  was  played  the  tragic  scenes 
deciding  the  political  destiny  of  the  new  world. 

The  French  began  to  build  forts  and  supply  sta- 
tions along  their  northern  lines  from  Canada,  and 
the  English  began  to  drill  volunteers  for  the  purpose 
of  defending  the  Ohio  Company's  territory,  if  not 
even  further  to  expel  the  French  entirely  as  a  menace 
to  the  peace  of  the  company. 

Virginia  was  divided  into  military  districts  whose 
commander-in-chief  was  an  adjutant-general,  having 
the  rank  of  major.  Lawrence  Washington  secured 
one  of  these  military  districts  for  his  brother  George, 


THE  BEGINNINGS  OF  EXPERIENCE    23 

who  was  then  only  nineteen  years  of  age.  Manhood  of 
mind  as  well  as  of  body  had  come  to  him  rapidly  and 
there  is  no  evidence  but  that  he  fulfilled  these  high 
duties  with  complete  satisfaction  to  all  concerned. 
To  American  interests,  these  experiences  were  indeed 
a  providential  training  for  the  priceless  responsibili- 
ties to  come. 

Method,  accuracy  and  persistence  were  prime 
characteristics  of  George  Washington.  He  did  not 
assume  to  know  it  all  without  any  need  of  prepara- 
tion. He  believed  he  could  take  a  job  for  which  he 
was  not  fitted  with  the  profound  belief  that  before 
the  job  got  to  him  he  would  be  fitted.  This  reminds 
us  of  how  Lincoln  took  the  job  of  surveyor  before 
he  knew  how  to  survey,  but  when  he  began  the  work 
of  surveying,  even  with  the  rudest  instruments,  his 
work  was  correct. 

There  was  a  Westmoreland  volunteer,  Adjutant 
Muse,  who  had  served  through  the  Spanish  Cam- 
paigns with  Lawrence  Washington.  He  was  well  in- 
formed by  both  experience  and  study  in  the  art  and 
theory  of  war.  George  brought  him  to  Mount  Ver- 
non  and  became  under  him  a  strenuous  student  in 
military  tactics.  There  was  also  Jacob  Van  Braam, 
a  soldier  of  fortune,  wTho  was  an  expert  in  fencing, 
and  who  had  likewise  been  through  the  West  Indies 
with  Lawrence.  Jacob  was  speedily  added  to  the 


24         THE  STORY  OF  WASHINGTON 

military  academy  at  Mount  Vernon  with  its  one  stu- 
dent. But  these  teachers  might  well  feel  like  Plato 
at  the  Academy  in  Athens.  The  story  is  that  a  stormy 
day  had  kept  all  of  Plato's  pupils  away  but  one. 
Nevertheless,  Plato  arose  and  began  his  lecture  as 
usual.  The  pupil  protested  but  Plato  continued,  say- 
ing, "It  is  true  that  only  one  pupil  is  here,  but  that 
one  is  Aristotle. " 

Adjutant  Muse  and  Swordmaster  Van  Braam  had 
only  one  pupil  for  their  distinguished  instruction,  but 
that  one  was  George  Washington. 

It  was  probably  about  the  time  when  George  had 
learned  all  he  needed  of  these  teachers,  that  Law- 
rence's health  broke  down,  and  his  physicians  or- 
dered him  to  go  to  the  Barbadoes  for  the  winter.  It 
was  necessary  for  George  to  go  with  him,  and  he  did 
so,  writing  a  journal  of  all  the  occurrences  and  obser- 
vations he  considered  worthy  of  note. 

Within  two  weeks,  after  he  arrived  in  that  happy- 
go-lucky  colony  where  no  one  was  interested  in  any- 
thing but  pleasure  and  pastime,  George  was  struck 
down  by  the  smallpox.  He  recovered  in  three  weeks 
and  was  slightly  marked  for  life,  but  with  no  other 
consequence  than  a  disagreeable  experience. 

Lawrence  decided  to  leave  the  Barbadoes  for  Ber- 
muda, and  so  he  sent  George  home  to  bring  Mrs. 
Washington  to  Bermuda.  But  she  did  not  go.  Law- 


TEE  BEGINNINGS  OF  EXPERIENCE    25 

rence  returned,  and  died  soon  after,  at  the  age  of 
thirty-four  years. 

This  noble  man  and  genuine  American  did  much 
toward  preparing  his  half-brother  George  for  the 
immortal  work  to  be  done,  and  the  name  of  Lawrence 
Washington  should  ever  remain  sacred  in  the  mem- 
ory of  the  American  people. 


CHAPTER   IV 

THE  RIVALRY  AND  DIPLOMACY  OF  THE 
FRONTIER 


I.      THE  FIRST  GREAT  PROBLEMS  OF  THE  INDIANS 

FROM  small  events  in  the  deep  wilderness,  human 
interests  were  forming  into  the  flow  of  incalculable 
affairs.  The  Ohio  Indians  had  gathered  in  council 
with  their  English  brethren  at  Logstown,  and  entered 
into  a  treaty  not  to  molest  any  English  settlers  in  the 
territory  claimed  by  the  Ohio  Company.  The  Six 
Nations  of  Iroquois  to  the  northeast  had  very  haught- 
ily declined  to  attend  the  conference.  This  was  be- 
cause they  were  nearer  the  French  and  under  their 
influence. 

"It  is  not  our  custom,"  said  an  Iroquois  chief,  "to 
meet  to  treat  of  affairs  in  the  woods  and  weeds.  If 
the  Governor  of  Virginia  wants  to  speak  with  us,  we 
will  meet  him  at  Albany,  where  we  expect  the  Gover- 
nor of  New  York  to  be  present. " 

26 


RIVALRY  AND  DIPLOMACY  27 

On  the  other  side,  the  Ohio  Indians  sent  a  protest 
to  the  French  at  Lake  Erie. 

"Fathers,"  said  the  messenger,  "you  are  the  dis- 
turbers of  this  land  by  building  towns,  and  taking  the 
country  from  us  by  fraud  and  force.  If  you  had 
come  in  a  peaceable  manner,  like  our  brothers,  the 
English,  we  should  have  traded  with  you  as  we  do 
with  them ;  but  that  you  should  come  and  build  houses 
on  our  land,  and  take  it  by  force,  is  what  we  cannot 
submit  to.  Our  brothers,  the  English,  have  heard 
this,  and  I  now  come  to  tell  it  to  you,  for  I  am  not 
afraid  to  order  you  off  this  land." 

"Child,"  was  the  reply  of  the  French  commander, 
"you  talk  foolishly.  I  am  not  afraid  of  flies  and  mos- 
quitoes, for  such  are  those  who  oppose  me.  Take 
back  your  wampum.  I  fling  it  at  you. ' ' 

It  became  evident  that  the  French  intended  to  con- 
nect Canada  with  Louisiana  by  a  chain  of  forts  and 
so  confine  the  English  to  the  coast  east  of  the  Alle- 
ghanies.  This  meant  the  ruin  of  the  Ohio  Company. 
A  strong  appeal  was  made  to  Governor  Dinwiddie 
of  Virginia.  He  was  a  stockholder  in  the  Ohio  Com- 
pany and  was  accordingly  a  ready  listener  to  the 
danger  of  losing  the  Ohio  country. 

Governor  Dinwiddie  sent  a  commissioner  with  a 
protest  to  the  French,  who  were  rapidly  breaking 
their  way  through  from  Canada,  defeating  the  hostile 


28         THE  STORY  OF  WASHINGTON 

Indians,  and  breaking  to  pieces  their  confidence  in 
tkeir  English  brothers.  Captain  Trent  was  the  man 
selected  for  this  dangerous  and  delicate  task.  He 
went  to  Logstown  and  then  on  into  the  Indian  coun- 
try, where  the  French  had  scattered  the  Indians  and 
established  their  authority. 

Trent  could  not  see  anything  to  do  and  he  returned 
home  a  failure.  This  made  matters  worse,  and  re- 
quired a  still  stronger  man,  able  to  restore  the  lost 
confidence  of  the  Indians  and  to  impress  the  French 
with  the  determination  and  power  of  the  English. 
There  was  only  one  man  who  seemed  qualified  for 
such  a  hazardous  undertaking,  and  he  was  only 
twenty-two  years  of  age.  This  was  George  Wash- 
ington. 

He  was  appointed  to  the  dangerous  mission  and 
given  full  instructions  in  writing.  With  the  required 
equipment,  Washington  set  forth  on  the  remarkable 
journey,  which  was  the  beginning  of  his  great  career 
as  the  maker  of  a  nation.  The  record  of  this  great 
adventure  belongs  to  history  and  little  can  be  done 
toward  telling  any  part  of  it  without  telling  enough 
to  make  a  book.  The  journey  contained  all  the  perils 
of  such  a  wilderness,  the  usual  intrigues  characteris- 
tic of  the  times  in  the  dealing  with  the  Indians,  and 
the  customary  experience  of  frontier  diplomacy  be- 
tween two  rival  colonies,  of  which  the  mother  conn- 


RIVALRY  AND  DIPLOMACY  29 

tries  were  at  peace.  But  with  a  thoroughness  that 
was  possible  only  to  one  who  had  made  thoroughness 
an  object  and  a  habit  of  his  life,  Washington  noted 
everything  he  saw  among  the  tribes,  at  the  French 
outposts,  and  at  the  French  headquarters. 

Washington  had  started  with  his  message  from 
Governor  Dinwiddie  on  October  30,  and  he  returned 
with  the  reply,  January  16.  The  long  journey 
through  the  trackless  forests  o'f  the  winter  wilderness 
had  been  one  of  almost  incredible  hardship  and  peril, 
where  his  life  many  times  appeared  hopeless,  but  he 
won  out  and  performed  his  mission.  It  is  probable 
that  nothing  throughout  his  wonderful  career  was 
more  trying  to  his  character  or  more  evidence  of  his 
indomitable  manhood.  One  who  was  able  to  perform 
successfully  such  a  mission,  and  bring  back  such  a 
clear  view  of  the  situation,  was  henceforth  to  be  rated 
as  one  of  the  worthiest  sons  of  Virginia,  and  a  re- 
liable guardian  of  her  fortunes. 


H.      ALARM  FOR  THE  FUTURE 

WASHINGTON'S  journal,  covering  his  journey  and 
his  observations,  was  printed,  and  it  awakened  the 
colonies  to  the  fact  that,  if  the  French  took  possession 


30         THE  STOEY  OF  WASHINGTON 

of  the  Ohio  Valley,  the  English  would  have  no  future 
beyond  the  Alleghenies.  The  French  commander's 
evasive  reply,  coupled  with  his  statement  that  he  was 
there  by  his  superior's  orders  and  would  obey  them 
to  the  letter,  made  it  plain  that,  however  much  the 
two  home  countries  were  at  peace,  the  American  colo- 
nies would  have  to  fight  for  their  rights,  as  they  con- 
ceived them  to  be,  in  these  Western  regions.  As  is 
to  be  seen,  this  colonial  English  war  with  the  colonial 
French  was  destined  to  accomplish  three  far-reach- 
ing results.  It  would  unite  the  English  colonies,  it 
would  give  them  an  extended  view  of  their  human 
rights,  and  it  would  develop  a  leader  in  George  Wash- 
ington. 

At  first  the  support  given  the  Governor,  even  in 
Virginia,  was  very  meagerly  and  grudgingly  given. 

" Those  who  offered  to  enlist,"  says  Washington, 
"were  for  the  most  part  loose,  idle  persons,  without 
house  or  home,  some  without  shoes  or  stockings,  some 
shirtless,  and  many  without  coat  or  waistcoat." 

One  of  the  French  officers  had  boasted  to  Wash- 
ington that  the  French  would  be  the  first  to  take  pos- 
session of  the  Ohio  lands,  because  the  English  were 
so  slow,  and  it  proved  true. 

Captain  Trent  had  been  sent  with  about  fifty  men 
to  build  a  fort  at  the  fork  of  the  Ohio  River,  the  place 
recommended  by  Washington.  But,  when  it  was  less 


RIVALRY  AND  DIPLOMACY  31 

than  half  done,  a  thousand  Frenchmen  appeared  and 
ordered  the  English  fort-builders  to  leave.  They 
were  glad  to  have  that  privilege.  A  few  days  after 
Washington  arrived  at  Will's  creek,  with  probably 
two  hundred  men,  the  fort-builders  came  in  and  told 
their  story. 

It  was  known  that  the  French  had  abundance  of 
war-supplies,  could  receive  reinforcements  on  short 
notice,  were  already  at  least  five  to  one  in  numbers, 
and  had  the  assured  support  of  at  least  six  hundred 
Indians. 

Washington's  men  were  undisciplined,  and  Trent's 
men  being  volunteers  for  other  service  were  insubor- 
dinate. There  were  no  supplies,  and  reinforcements 
were  doubtful. 

But  even  in  such  a  forlorn  condition,  he  must  be 
master  of  the  situation  or  all  would  indeed  be  lost. 
He  decided  to  fortify  the  Ohio  Company's  store- 
houses at  Redstone  Creek,  acquaint  the  colonies  of 
his  condition  and  await  necessary  reinforcements. 
In  this  management  under  difficulties,  he  had  an  ex- 
perience and  training,  probably  of  great  service  to 
his  country  in  the  nobler  cause  of  political  liberty, 
that  was  destined  to  be  his  task  for  grander  years  to 
come. 


32         THE  STORY  OF  WASHINGTON 


HI.      INDIFFERENCE   TO   GREAT   INTERESTS 

THE  wilderness,  the  Indians,  the  French,  and  the 
slow-moving  management  coming  from  the  colonies, 
offered  difficulties  almost  insurmountable,  and  it 
would  take  a  volume  to  describe  in  detail  the  condi- 
tions and  affairs.  Even  the  officers  were  almost  in 
mutiny  over  their  pay. 

"Let  me  serve  voluntarily,"  Washington  wrote  to 
the  Governor,  "and  I  will,  with  the  greatest  pleasure, 
devote  my  services  to  this  expedition, — but,  to  be 
slaving  through  woods,  rocks  and  mountains  for  the 
shadow  of  pay,  I  would  rather  toil  like  a  day  laborer 
for  a  maintenance,  if  reduced  to  the  necessity,  than 
to  serve  on  such  ignoble  terms." 

In  a  letter  to  his  friend,  Colonel  Fairfax,  in  which 
he  preferred  to  serve  as  a  volunteer  without  pay, 
rather  than  for  what  he  was  getting,  he  added,  "for 
the  motives  that  have  led  me  here  are  pure  and  noble. 
I  had  no  view  of  acquisition  but  that  of  honor,  by 
serving  faithfully  my  king  and  my  country." 

In  the  midst  of  all  this  dissatisfaction  and  distress, 
word  came  through  Indian  scouts  that  the  French 
were  marching  to  attack  him.  The  tracks  of  a  scout- 
ing party  having  been  discovered,  an  Indian  was  put 
on  the  trail  and  he  found  the  camp  of  the  enemy. 


RIVALRY  AND  DIPLOMACY  33 

Washington  determined  to  surprise  them.  He 
planned  to  slip  up  on  one  side  of  them,  as  his  Indian 
allies  did  the  same  on  the  other  side.  Between  them 
he  believed  he  could  capture  them  all.  But  the  sharp 
watch  of  the  French  caught  sight  of  the  English  and 
the  forest  battle  began.  One  of  Washington's  men 
had  been  killed  and  three  wounded  in  a  fifteen  min- 
utes' battle,  when  the  French,  having  lost  several  and 
becoming  frightened  at  being  between  two  fires,  gave 
way  and  ran.  They  were  soon  overtaken  and  cap- 
tured, excepting  one  who  escaped  and  carried  the 
news  to  the  fort  at  the  forks  of  the  Ohio.  Ten  of 
the  French  had  been  killed  and  one  wounded. 
Twenty-one  were  prisoners. 

Though  this  battle,  as  measured  in  the  deeds  of 
other  wars,  was  indeed  a  small  affair,  it  was  weighty 
with  consequence  for  the  interests  of  America.  It 
was  Washington's  first  experience  in  battle.  In  a  let- 
ter to  one  of  his  brothers,  he  says,  "I  heard  the  bullets 
whistle,  and,  believe  me,  there  is  something  charming 
in  the  sound." 

This  statement  of  a  boy,  at  the  age  of  twenty-two 
in  the  first  emotions  of  military  excitement,  is  hardly 
to  be  called  mere  rodomontade  as  Horace  Walpole 
termed  it.  It  is  said  that  George  II  remarked,  when 
he  was  told  of  this  expression  used  by  the  young  Vir- 
ginian commander,  "He  would  not  say  so,  if  he  had 


34         THE  STORY  OF  WASHINGTON 

been  used  to  hear  many."  Forty  years  later,  when 
Washington  was  President  of  the  United  States  of 
America,  he  was  asked  about  the  so-called  charm  of 
whistling  bullets,  and  he  replied,  "If  I  said  so,  it 
was  when  I  was  young." 

The  victory  of  this  battle,  small  as  it  was,  aroused 
the  colonists  and  held  the  confidence  of  the  Indians. 
The  Indian  chief  sent  the  scalps  of  the  ten  slain  sol- 
diers to  the  different  tribes  and  called  on  them  to 
come  at  once  to  the  help  of  their  brothers,  the  Eng- 
lish. 

Washington's  difficulty  in  getting  supplies  and  in 
obtaining  reinforcements  taxed  all  his  powers  and  all 
his  stability  of  character.  There  was  no  doubt  that 
the  entire  success  of  the  campaign  depended  upon  his 
patience  and  resourceful  perseverance.  It  was  mak- 
ing the  twenty-two-year-old  gentleman  of  Mount 
Vernon  and  Belvoir  very  rapidly  into  a  hardy  war- 
rior of  the  wilderness,  and  a  tactful  manager  of  men. 
These  qualities  were  being  strengthened  for  the  com- 
ing great  day,  when  there  should  be  a  new  nation. 
Doubtless  the  sordid  stupidity  of  the  colonial  gover- 
nors, in  their  tardy  and  meager  support  of  him,  had 
much  to  do  in  preparing  the  way  for  ideas  of  inde- 
pendence and  a  self-governing  body  of  States. 


CHAPTER   V 


I.      ANNOYANCES   AND   ANTAGONISMS 

HEROISM  appears  often  to  be  a  thankless  task. 
Patience  had  about  vanished  when,  most  op- 
portunely, Adjutant  Muse,  Washington's  instructor 
in  military  tactics,  arrived  with  much  needed  sup- 
plies, and  also  suitable  presents  for  the  Indians.  A 
grand  ceremonial  of  presentation  took  place.  The 
pompous  ceremonial  seemed  to  be  very  dear  to  the 
heart  of  those  so-called  simple  children  of  the  forests. 
The  chiefs  were  decorated  in  all  their  barbaric  finery. 
"Washington  wore  a  big  medal  sent  him  by  the  Gov- 
ernor, intended  to  be  impressively  used  on  such  occa- 
sions. Washington  gave  the  presents  and  decorated 
the  chiefs  and  warriors  with  the  medals,  which  they 
were  to  wear  in  memory  of  their  brethren,  the  Eng- 
lish, and  their  father,  the  King  of  England. 

35 


36 


One  of  the  warriors,  the  son  of  Queen  Aliquippa, 
wanted  the  honor  of  having  an  English  name,  so,  in 
elaborate  ceremonial,  Washington  bestowed  upon 
him  the  name  Fairfax.  The  principal  chief  of  the 
tribes  desiring  a  like  honor  was  given  the  name  of 
the  governor,  Dinwiddie. 

William  Fairfax  had,  about  this  time,  written  a 
letter  to  Washington  advising  that  he  hold  religious 
services  in  camp,  especially  for  the  benefit  of  the  In- 
dians. This  was  done,  and  the  imagination  can  pic- 
ture the  motley  assembly  being  so  solemnly  presided 
over  in  that  picturesque  wilderness  by  the  boyish 
commander  of  a  no  less  motley  army. 

In  reading  about  big  wars,  in  which  there  are  mil- 
lions striving  for  the  bloody  mastery,  with  monster 
machines  of  modern  destruction,  it  may  sound  trivial 
to  read  of  the  fear  with  which  Washington's  wilder- 
ness army  heard  of  the  approach  of  ninety  French- 
men. But,  in  truth,  this  handful  of  men  were  at  the 
beginning  of  the  greatest  human  interests,  and  were 
giving  direction  to  human  affairs  hardly  less  conse- 
quential than  the  European  War. 

Washington,  with  the  buoyant  fervor  of  youth,  sal- 
lied forth  from  the  fort,  hoping  to  have  the  honor  of 
presenting  Governor  Dinwiddie  with  a  choice  lot  of 
French  prisoners.  The  scouts  had  certainly  been 
well  scared.  The  ninety  French  warriors  were  found 


TEE  CONSEQUENCE  OF  ARROGANCE  37 

to  be  nine  deserters  anxious  to  be  captured.  But 
they  gave  valuable  information  regarding  Port  Du- 
quesne,  which  was  put  to  good  use  by  Washington. 

Now  began  one  of  those  little  annoyances  which 
marked  the  feeling  of  British  officers  toward  Colonial 
officers,  and  showed  the  state  of  mind  which  was  at 
last  to  be  an  intolerable  antagonism  between  England 
and  America. 

Captain  Mackay  arrived  with  an  independent  com- 
pany of  North  Carolinians.  Captain  Mackay  held  a 
commission  direct  from  the  King,  Washington  held 
his  by  Colonial  authority ;  therefore,  Captain  Mackay 
believed  himself  and  his  company  to  have  far  super- 
ior standing  to  that  of  Washington  and  his  provincial 
men. 

The  result  was  that  he  would  not  associate  himself 
in  any  way  with  Washington  nor  allow  his  men  to 
have  anything  in  common  with  Washington's  men. 
No  matter  what  Washington  urged  as  to  their  com- 
mon danger  and  their  common  cause,  he  very  haught- 
ily flouted  every  attempt  made  to  have  the  two  com- 
manders work  together. 

The  experience  Washington  had  in  managing  this 
delicate  and  foolish  situation  was  doubtless  very  val- 
uable in  handling  even  more  delicate  and  foolish  sit- 
uations of  vastly  more  consequence  in  the  coming 
revolutionary  wai. 


38 


H.      DISHONORS  AND   DISASTERS 

FINDING  that  co-operation  with  the  North  Caro- 
lina troops  was  impossible,  Washington  left  Fort 
Necessity  in  their  charge,  and  toiled  forward  through 
the  forest,  making  a  military  road  toward  Fort  Du- 
quesne,  which  was  at  the  point  where  Pittsburg  now 
is,  and  which  was  in  the  very  heart  of  the  region 
claimed  by  the  English  colonies. 

Washington  reached  the  station  kept  by  Christo- 
pher Gist.  This  was  the  heroic  woodsman  who  had 
been  his  companion  through  the  most  perilous  part 
of  his  romantic  journey  when  he  carried  the  history- 
making  message  from  the  Governor  of  Virginia  to 
the  Commander  of  the  French. 

Here  he  learned  that  a  large  force  from  Fort  Du- 
quesne  was  coming  against  him.  He  hastily  threw 
up  fortifications  and  called  in  all  his  forces,  including 
several  companies  of  Indians.  A  messenger  was 
hastily  despatched  to  Captain  Mackay  at  Fort  Neces- 
sity, thirteen  miles  away,  and  he  came  on  with  the 
swivel  guns  of  the  fort.  A  council  of  war  soon  de- 
cided that  they  could  not  hold  their  own  at  this  place, 
and  must  retreat  to  more  favorable  grounds  for  a 
stand  against  the  enemy. 

In  the  retreat  that  followed,  the  Virginians  were 


THE  CONSEQUENCE  OF  ARROGANCE  39 

greatly  exasperated  by  the  North  Carolinians.  Mack- 
ay's  men  were  " King's  soldiers"  and  so  would  not 
belittle  themselves  with  the  labors  of  the  retreat.  At 
Great  Meadows,  in  the  center  of  which  was  Fort 
Necessity,  the  Virginians,  exhausted  and  resentful, 
refused  to  go  any  farther,  and  Washington  decided 
to  make  his  stand  there. 

They  had  left  Gist's  station  none  too  soon.  At 
dawn  on  the  morning  following  the  retreat,  Captain 
de  Villiers  with  five  hundred  Frenchmen  and  several 
hundred  Indians  surrounded  the  place.  Finding 
that  the  English  had  escaped,  they  were  about  to  re- 
turn to  Fort  Duquesne,  when  a  deserter  from  Wash- 
ington's camp  arrived.  He  told  them  that  he  had 
escaped  to  keep  from  starving  to  death,  and  that  the 
troops  under  Washington  were  in  mutiny  over  their 
desperate  situation. 

De  Villiers  set  out  at  once  to  capture  Fort  Neces- 
sity. 

Meanwhile,  Washington  set  the  Virginians  at  work 
strengthening  the  defences  of  the  fort.  The  Indians 
seeing  such  inferior  equipment  for  defense,  and  the 
discord  among  the  troops,  became  afraid  and  de- 
serted. 

On  the  morning  of  July  3, 1754,  the  French  arrived 
at  the  edge  of  Great  Meadows  and  began  firing  from 
behind  trees,  at  whatever  they  could  see.  All  day 


40         THE  STORY  OF  WASHINGTON 

Washington  kept  his  men  close  sheltered  in  the 
trenches,  keeping  the  enemy  at  rifle's  distance  in  the 
edge  of  the  woods.  At  night  a  steady  downpour  of 
rain  began,  half  drowning  the  men  in  the  trenches 
and  ruining  their  ammunition. 

At  eight  o'clock  the  French  demanded  a  parley 
looking  to  the  surrender  of  Fort  Necessity.  Wash- 
ington at  first  refused,  but  their  condition  was  hope- 
less. The  only  person  with  them  who  understood  any 
French  was  Jacob  Van  Braam,  the  swordsmanship 
teacher  of  Washington  at  Mount  Vernon. 

Van  Braam  went  back  and  forth  in  the  drenching 
storm  of  the  black  night,  between  the  lines,  with  the 
negotiations.  At  last  the  French  sent  in  their  ulti- 
matum. Van  Braam  tried  to  translate  it  by  the  light 
of  a  candle,  under  cover  of  a  rude  tent,  through  which 
the  rain  was  pouring  upon  candle,  paper  and  per- 
sons. The  terms  of  the  surrender  were  very  humil- 
iating and  reflected  severely  on  Washington's  honor, 
but  according  to  Van  Braam's  translation  the  terms, 
though  hard,  were  acceptable. 

Washington  signed  the  document  and  the  next 
morning  the  bedraggled  and  disheartened  men 
marched  out  with  the  honors  of  war,  though  the  docu- 
ment of  surrender,  as  afterward  correctly  translated, 
did  not  leave  a  shred  of  honor  for  the  defeated  col- 
onists. It  was  then  believed  that  Van  Braam  had 


THE  CONSEQUENCE  OF  ARROGANCE    41 

purposely  mistranslated  it  in  the  service  of  the 
French,  with  whom  he  and  Captain  Stobo  had  to  re- 
main as  hostages.  But  subsequent  information  from 
the  French  exhonorated  Van  Braam  from  this 
charge,  deciding  that  the  mistranslation  was  from 
ignorance  and  not  intentional. 

The  soldiers  were  put  into  quarters  at  Will's  creek, 
and  Washington  went  on  to  make  his  report  to  the 
Governor. 

The  Virginia  legislature  took  up  an  investigation 
of  the  charges  as  to  Van  Braam 's  treason  and  Cap- 
tain Stobo 's  cowardice,  as  well  as  the  conduct  of 
Washington,  and  the  questions  of  the  surrender. 
Thanks  and  rewards  were  freely  voted  to  the  troops, 
but  it  was  some  time  later  before  evidence  came  in, 
establishing  the  patriotic  character  of  Van  Braam 
and  Stobo. 


HI.      WASHINGTON  ENTERING  THE  SCHOOL  OF  WAR 

THE  French  were  so  elated  with  their  victory,  and 
the  belief  that  the  English  had  been  permanently  ex- 
pelled, that  they  withdrew  most  of  their  troops  from 
Fort  Duquesne  and  abandoned  all  precautions 
against  surprise  and  attack.  Before  the  end  of  a 
month  Captain  Stobo,  who  was  being  held  by  them  as 


42         THE  STORY  OF  WASHINGTON 

hostage,  smuggled  a  letter  out  by  a  friendly  Indian 
describing  all  the  conditions  and  laying  out  a  plan 
by  which  the  fort  could  easily  be  surprised  and  taken. 
He  mentioned  the  boasts  of  the  French  and  said  it 
was  worse  than  death  to  hear  them.  He  said  that  he 
and  his  fellow  prisoner,  Van  Braam,  were  ready  at 
any  time  to  lay  down  their  lives  for  their  country. 
This  letter,  after  much  wandering,  reached  the  Gov- 
ernor of  Pennsylvania  and  was  by  him  sent  to  the 
Governor  of  Virginia. 

Captain  Stobo's  plan  was  practical.  As  all  kinds 
of  Indians  were  being  allowed  without  question  to 
come  and  go  as  they  pleased  at  Fort  Duquesne,  he 
advised  that  the  fort  be  first  occupied  by  friendly 
Indians,  who  would  hold  it  till  it  could  be  turned  over 
to  the  Colonial  troops. 

Governor  Dinwiddie  wanted  the  honor  himself  and 
he  planned  several  ways  of  his  own  to  capture  the 
fort.  These  were  rejected  by  Washington. 

Now  began  unceasingly  the  wrangle  and  turmoil 
between  the  arrogance  of  King's  authority  and  the 
native  independence  of  the  colonist's  ideals  and  char- 
acter. The  colonists  were  not  allowed  to  have  any 
officer  above  the  rank  of  Captain,  and  Washington 
quit  the  service. 

Governor  Sharpe,  of  Maryland,  was  appointed  by 
the  King  as  Commander  of  all  the  forces  used  to  re- 


THE  CONSEQUENCE  OF  ARROGANCE  43 

cover  the  King's  territory  from  the  French,  and  he 
wrote  a  letter  to  Washington,  trying  to  enlist  his 
services. 

Washington's  reply  gives  some  insight  into  his  in- 
dependence and  maturity  of  mind  at  this  time. 

"You  make  mention, "  he  replied,  "of  my  con- 
tinuing in  the  service  and  retaining  my  colonel's  com- 
mission. The  idea  has  filled  me  with  surprise ;  for,  if 
you  think  me  capable  of  holding  a  commission  that 
has  neither  rank  nor  emolument  annexed  to  it,  you 
must  maintain  a  very  contemptible  opinion  of  my 
weakness,  and  believe  me  more  empty  than  the  com- 
mission itself." 

He  added  that  it  was  no  desire  to  quit  the  service 
which  caused  him  to  reject  the  offer,  but  the  call  of 
honor  and  the  advice  of  friends,  because  his  feel- 
ings were  strong  for  the  military  life. 

Washington  now  returned  to  Mount  Vernon, 
where  he  took  up  a  quiet  agricultural  life,  though 
constantly  in  association  and  council  with  his  coun- 
trymen over  the  rapidly  developing  questions  of  war 
between  the  colonies  and  the  French. 

France  was  secretly  pouring  troops  and  means  into 
Canada,  and  England  was  as  busy  making  ready  in 
the  equipment  of  the  colonies,  though  the  two  home 
governments  were  professing  to  be  profoundly  at 
peace. 


44         THE  STORY  OF  WASHINGTON 

Alexandria,  near  by,  merely  a  pleasurable  horse- 
back ride  from  Mount  Vernon,  was  the  scene  of  gath- 
ering forces,  now  under  command  of  an  experienced 
English  General  named  Braddock.  Ships  of  war  and 
transports  were  constantly  passing  up  the  Potomac 
past  Mount  Vernon. 

What  a  glorious  array  over  Washington's  ragged 
forces  of  the  year  before!  His  military  ardor  was 
again  kindled.  The  boom  of  cannon  outranked  the 
moo  of  cattle  in  his  meadows.  The  youth  of  twenty- 
three,  who  had  already  tasted  the  glory  as  well  as 
the  defeat  of  battle,  could  no  longer  endure  the  peace- 
ful shades  of  Mount  Yernon.  He  let  it  be  known  that 
he  would  like  to  be  attached  as  an  independent  volun- 
teer to  General  Braddock 's  staff.  The  offer  was  very 
decorously  given  and  accepted.  He  had  neither 
"rank  nor  emolument "  in  this  position,  but  it  was 
also  neither  subservient  nor  responsible.  He  was 
merely  an  attache,  a  visitor  as  it  were,  in  General 
Braddock  ?s  family  of  advisers. 

His  mother,  hearing  of  this  move  to  return  to  the 
army,  hurried  to  Mount  Yernon  to  dissuade  him.  She 
wanted  him  to  remain  a  country  gentleman  attending 
to  their  property  interests,  which  were  hard  for  her 
to  manage.  But  the  spirit  of  Washington  seemed  to 
feel  a  greater  destiny.  His  mind  was  made  up  and 
he  joined  the  General  whose  name  is  so  familiar  in 


THE  CONSEQUENCE  OF  ARROGANCE  45 

the  history  classes  of  the  public  schools  in  the  United 
States. 

This  conflict,  so  important  in  preparing  the  colo- 
nies for  the  struggle  toward  independence  and  for 
the  causes  that  made  them  seek  independence,  became 
known  in  American  history  as  the  French  and  In- 
dian war. 

The  story  of  it  can  nowhere  be  better  told,  nor 
more  understandingly  read,  for  its  significance  to 
American  independence,  than  in  the  school  histories. 


CHAPTER  VI 
THE  STRUGGLE  FOR  FORT  DUQUESNE 


I.      THE  SEPARATION  BEGINNING  BETWEEN  THE  COLONIES 
AND   ENGLAND 

THE  arrogance  and  ignorance  that  so  estranged 
the  American  colonies  and  broke  down  their  spirit  of 
allegiance  to  Great  Britain  may  be  well  exhibited  in 
an  extract  from  the  Autobiography  of  Benjamin 
Franklin.  The  experiences  of  this  eminent  man  in 
making  a  visit  to  General  Braddock  came  to  pass 
through  the  following  series  of  events. 
.  Sir  John  St.  Clair  was,  at  this  time,  in  command 
at  Fort  Cumberland.  He  ordered  the  colony  of 
Pennsylvania  to  cut  a  road  through  to  the  Ohio.  The 
redoubtable  commander  seemed  to  think  it  was  only  a 
child's  job  or  a  few  days'  work.  As  it  was  not  done 
promptly,  he  got  into  a  rage,  and,  according  to  the 
pioneer  woodsman,  George  Croghan,  "stormed  like 
a  lion  rampant."  He  declared  that  "by  fire  and 

46 


THE  STRUGGLE  FOE  FOET  DUQUESNE    47 

sword"  he  would  oblige  the  inhabitants  to  build  that 
road.  He  said  that  if  the  French  defeated  him  it 
would  be  because  of  the  slow  Pennsylvanians,  and, 
in  that  case,  he  would  declare  them  "a  parcel  of  trait- 
ors," and  the  colony  should  be  treated  as  being  in 
rebellion  against  the  King. 

Likewise,  as  Braddock  got  ready  to  move,  Sir  John 
became  furious  at  obstacles  which,  not  knowing  till 
then  that  they  existed,  he  considered  that  they  had  no 
right  to  exist,  and  therefore  that  the  people  were  to 
be  blamed.  In  this  state  of  trouble  between  the  people 
and  the  English  officers,  who  knew  so  little  of  the 
wilderness,  Benjamin  Franklin,  then  forty-nine 
years  of  age,  was  called  on  to  act  as  peacemaker.  He 
visited  Braddock  and  was  received  and  treated  as  a 
worthy  guest.  This  visit  gave  him  a  chance  to  see 
into  the  fatal  ignorance  and  arrogance  of  the  English 
government,  and  to  understand  the  irreconciliable 
points  of  view  between  the  colonies  and  England. 

"In  conversation  one  day,"  says  Franklin,  "Gen- 
eral Braddock  gave  me  some  account  of  his  intended 
progress.  *  After  taking  Fort  Duquesne,'  said  he,  *I 
am  to  proceed  to  Niagara ;  and,  having  taken  that,  on 
to  Frontenac,  if  the  season  will  allaw  time;  and  I 
suppose  it  will,  for  Duquesne  can  hardly  detain  me 
above  three  or  four  days ;  and  then  I  can  see  nothing 
that  can  obstruct  my  march  to  Niagara/  " 


48         THE  STORY  OF  WASHINGTON 

Franklin  very  tactfully  and  diplomatically  ven- 
tured to  describe  the  long  road  that  must  be  cut 
through  forests  all  the  way,  the  thin  line  of  troops 
that  would  have  to  be  stretched  out  in  the  march 
along  the  narrow  way,  and  the  ambush  of  Indians 
breaking  out  upon  that  thin,  long  line  at  various 
places. 

"He  smiled  at  my  ignorance, "  says  Franklin,  "and 
replied,  '  These  savages  may  indeed  be  a  formidable 
enemy  to  raw  American  militia,  but  upon  the  King's 
regular  and  disciplined  troops,  Sir,  it  is  impossible 
that  they  should  make  any  impression. ' 

Franklin  adds,  "I  was  conscious  of  an  impropriety 
in  my  disputing  with  a  military  man  in  matters  of  his 
profession,  and  said  no  more." 

To  defeat  an  enemy,  it  is  very  clear  that  one  should 
know  how  the  enemy  thinks  and  what  he  does.  This 
was  the  schooling  that  George  Washington  was  now 
getting.  The  place  he  had  on  General  Braddock's 
staff  was  teaching  him  the  tactics  of  English  generals, 
against  which  he  was  a  few  years  later  to  wage  a 
glorious  war  for  an  ideal  of  American  freedom  and 
the  establishment  of  a  democratic  form  of  govern- 
ment in  America. 

The  disastrous  defeat  of  Braddock's  expedition 
and  the  death  of  Braddock  has  always  formed  a  stir- 
ring chapter  in  American  school  histories,  until  in 


49 


recent  times  it  has  been  more  and  more  lessened  in 
the  length  of  description  because  of  the  increasing 
story  of  American  affairs.  Washington's  part  in 
it  is  interesting  largely  because  of  the  preparation 
it  gave  him  for  the  great  work  of  leading  the  colonial 
armies  in  the  Revolutionary  War. 


n.      LESSONS  GATHERED  FROM  DEFEAT 

GENERAL  BRADDOCK,  with  the  most  stupid  disdain 
of  both  natural  obstacles  and  native  advice,  especially 
regardless  of  Washington's  warning,  pushed  on  to 
overwhelm  the  French  and  Indians,  as  he  had  out- 
lined to  Franklin.  His  disastrous  defeat  and  tragic 
death  awoke  the  colonists  to  their  danger,  but  it 
seemed  to  have  little  effect  on  the  arrogance  and  ig- 
norance of  the  supposed  military  protectors  of  the 
colonies. 

Fugitives  from  the  disastrous  battle  field  spread 
through  the  colonies  and  the  news  ran  from  mouth  to 
mouth  along  the  wilderness  roads,  gathering  in  exag- 
geration as  it  went.  To  counteract  this  news  at  his 
own  home,  Washington  wrote  to  his  mother  as  speed- 
ily as  possible.  Referring  to  the  battle,  he  said, ' i  The 
Virginia  troops  showed  a  good  deal  of  bravery,  and 


50         THE  STORY  OF  WASHINGTON 

were  nearly  all  killed.  The  dastardly  behavior  of 
those  they  called  regulars  exposed  all  others,  that 
were  ordered  to  their  duty,  to  almost  certain  death  j 
and,  at  last,  in  spite  of  all  the  efforts  of  the  officers 
to  the  contrary  they  ran,  as  sheep  pursued  by  dogs, 
and  it  was  impossible  to  rally  them." 

In  writing  to  his  half-brother,  Augustine,  he  said, 
"As  I  have  heard,  since  my  arrival  at  this  place,  a 
circumstantial  account  of  my  death  and  dying  speech, 
I  take  this  early  opportunity  of  contradicting  the 
first,  and  of  assuring  you  that  I  have  not  composed 
the  latter.  But,  by  the  all-powerful  dispensations  of 
Providence,  I  have  been  protected  beyond  all  human 
probability,  or  expectation;  for  I  had  four  bullets 
through  my  coat,  and  two  horses  shot  under  me,  yet 
escaped  unhurt,  though  death  was  levelling  my  com- 
panions on  every  side  of  me!" 

The  defeat  of  Braddock,  we  may  safely  set  down 
as  one  of  the  most  extensive  liberating  forces  in  the 
new  world.  It  struck  out  of  the  minds  of  the  colo- 
nists the  respect  and  fear  which  held  them  captive  to 
the  mastery  of  hands  from  across  the  sea.  The  dis- 
aster was  not  only  a  rout  and  a  slaughter  but  it  was 
at  last  revealed  as  a  military  disgrace  and  an  inex- 
cusable blunder. 

The  commander  of  Fort  Duquesne  had  only  a 
handful  of  men.  He  was  fully  decided  on  either 


Washington  in  Command. 


THE  STRUGGLE  FOE  FORT  DUQUESNE    51 

abandoning  the  fort  at  once,  or  in  surrendering  on 
the  best  terms  he  could  get,  when  Captain  de  Beaujeu 
obtained  leave  to  take  two  hundred  and  eighteen 
French  soldiers  and  six  hundred  and  thirty  Indians, 
eight  hundred  and  thirty-five  in  all,  for  the  purpose 
of  delaying  the  British  advance  by  ambush.  These 
forest  rangers  met  Braddock's  twelve  hundred  select 
soldiers,  and  threw  them  back  in  such  a  panic  that, 
when  the  commander,  Dunbar,  reached  Fort  Cumber- 
land, where  there  were  fif ten  hundred  more  seasoned 
troops,  no  stand  was  made,  but  the  flight  was  con- 
tinued on  to  Philadelphia. 

Washington's  intimate  associate,  Dr.  Hugh  Mer- 
cer, was  so  severely  wounded  in  the  shoulder  that  he 
could  not  keep  up  with  the  fugitives.  He  hid  in  a 
fallen  tree  and  witnessed  the  terrible  scenes  of  the 
battlefield  after  the  soldiers  had  fled.  The  wounded 
were  tortured,  scalped  and  all  were  stripped  of  every- 
thing the  Indians  could  use.  Then  the  wild  horde 
left,  yelling  through  the  woods,  waving  aloft  the 
scalps.  The  Indians  were  bedecked  with  glittering 
uniforms,  and  loaded  with  booty. 

Benjamin  Franklin  wrote  in  his  autobiography 
that  "this  whole  transaction  gave  us  the  first  sus- 
picion that  our  exalted  ideas  of  the  powers  of  British 
regular  troops  had  not  been  well  founded. " 

What  Washington  thought  about  it  all  is  well 


52         THE  STORY  OF  WASHINGTON 

summed  up  and  very  tersely  expressed  in  a  letter  to 
his  half-brother  Augustine.  It  shows  us  what  all  this 
had  done  for  the  loyal  and  patriotic  mind  of  Wash- 
ington. It  reveals  how  his  mind,  like  that  of  other 
colonists,  was  being  prepared  for  the  event,  that  led 
to  a  break  with  the  home-country  England. 

In  that  very  expressive  letter  he  says,  "I  was  em- 
ployed to  go  a  journey  in  Winter,  when  I  believe  few 
or  none  would  have  undertaken  it,  and  what  did  I  get 
by  it? — my  expenses  home  I  I  was  then  appointed, 
with  trifling  pay,  to  conduct  a  handful  of  men  to  the 
Ohio.  What  did  I  get  by  that?  Why,  after  putting 
myself  to  a  considerable  expense  in  equipping  and 
providing  necessaries  for  the  campaign,  I  went  out, 
was  soundly  beaten  and  lost  all !  Came  in  and  had 
my  commission  taken  from  me;  or,  in  other  words, 
my  command  reduced,  under  pretense  of  an  order 
from  home  (England).  I  then  went  out  a  volunteer 
with  General  Braddock,  and  lost  all  my  horses,  and 
many  other  things.  But,  this  being  a  voluntary  act, 
I  ought  not  to  have  mentioned  it ;  nor  should  I  have 
done  so,  were  it  not  to  show  that  I  have  been  on  the 
losing  order  ever  since  I  entered  the  service,  which  is 
now  nearly  two  years." 

This  historical  summary  was  the  experience  in  div- 
ers ways  of  very  many  colonists,  but  they  did  not 
have  any  suggestion  of  how  that  bitter  experience 


THE  STRUGGLE  FOE  FORT  DUQUESNE    53 

was  really  to  become  a  great  blessing  to  the  cause  of 
liberty  throughout  the  earth. 


m.      SOME  PERSONAL  INTERESTS  AT  HOME 

HERE  and  there  we  catch  glimpses  of  Washington 
showing  that  he  was  not  the  sculptured  majesty  that 
was  pictured  for  his  youth  by  writers  in  the  early  de- 
cades of  the  nineteenth  century.  We  prefer  to  think 
of  him  as  sympathetic,  gallant,  and  enjoying  the  fa- 
miliar courtesies  of  common  life.  That  Washington 
was  not  without  social  friendship  is  shown  in  a  note 
which  he  received  from  three  young  ladies  written 
him  from  Belvoir  on  his  return  from  the  French  and 
Indian  war.  It  speaks  for  itself: 

"Dear  Sir: 

"After  thanking  heaven  for  your  safe  return,  I 
must  accuse  you  of  great  unkindness  in  refusing  us 
the  pleasure  of  seeing  you  this  evening.  If  you  will 
not  come  to  us  tomorrow  morning  very  early,  we  shall 
be  at  Mount  Vernon. 

"  SALLIE  FAIRFAX. 
ANN  SPEARING. 
ELIZABETH  DENT." 


54         THE  STORY  OF  WASHINGTON 

There  is  no  record  to  complete  the  picture  of  these 
young  ladies '  interest  in  Washington,  but  if  they 
could  have  such  a  view  of  his  sociability  with  such 
propriety,  we  may  be  sure  that  he  was  not  above  the 
common  human  sympathies  that  fill  the  hard  lines 
of  life. 

Washington's  connection  with  the  army  had  ceased 
at  the  death  of  Braddock,  but  he  was  still  adjutant- 
general  of  the  northern  division  of  the  Province. 
Braddock 's  defeat  had  thoroughly  frightened  the 
colonists,  and  panic-stricken  rumors  surged  around 
that  French  and  Indians  were  about  to  make  incur- 
sions here  and  there  and  everywhere.  The  slow-go- 
ing legislative  bodies  suddenly  woke  up  and  voted 
the  organization  of  ample  supplies  and  men.  An  un- 
dignified scramble  took  place  for  favorites  to  be  given 
high  commands.  Washington  was  urged  by  his 
friends  to  be  a  candidate,  but  he  refused.  As  to  this 
matter  he  wrote,  "If  the  command  should  be  offered 
me,  the  case  will  then  be  altered,,  as  I  should  be  at 
liberty  to  make  such  objections  as  reason,  and  my 
small  experience,  have  pointed  out." 

In  the  midst  of  this  turmoil  he  received  a  letter 
from  his  mother  begging  him  not  to  go  back  into  the 
war  but  to  return  to  his  home-life  and  become  a  busi- 
ness man.  His  reply  to  her  is  quite  significant  of 
the  character  of  Washington : 


THE  STRUGGLE  FOE  FOET  DUQUESNE    55 

"Honored  Madam: 

"If  it  is  in  my  power  to  avoid  going  to  the  Ohio 
again,  I  shall;  but  if  the  command  is  pressed  upon 
me  by  the  general  voice  of  the  country,  and  offered 
upon  such  terms  as  can  not  be  objected  against,  it 
would  reflect  dishonor  upon  me  to  refuse  it ;  and  that, 
I  am  sure,  must,  and  ought  to  give  you  greater  un- 
easiness than  my  going  in  an  honorable  command. 
Upon  no  other  terms  will  I  accept  it.  At  present,  I 
have  no  proposals  made  to  me,  nor  have  I  any  ad- 
vice of  such  an  intention,  except  from  private 
hands." 

But,  it  so  happened  that  on  the  same  day,  after  this 
letter  had  been  sent  away,  he  received  the  news  that 
he  had  been  appointed  commander-in-chief  of  all  the 
forces  of  Virginia,  and  upon  the  terms  he  had  out- 
lined to  his  friends.  Besides,  his  closest  friends  were 
appointed  officers  next  in  command  to  him. 

This  was  a  triumph  over  Governor  Dinwiddie,  who 
had  a  special  favorite  whom  he  had  pressed  hard  for 
the  appointment.  It  was  also  made  for  a  man  who 
had  risen  to  that  esteem  among  his  countrymen,  not 
through  victories  but  through  defeats,  not  through 
success  but  through  failure.  And,  it  must  be  remem- 
bered, that  Washington  was  not  yet  twenty-four 
years  old.  But  the  general  esteem  in  which  he  was 


56         THE  STORY  OF  WASHINGTON 

held  may  be  gathered  from  a  statement  made  in  a 
sermon  at  the  time  of  his  appointment,  by  the  Rev. 
Samuel  Davis.  It  might  have  been  mere  enthusiasm, 
but,  in  the  light  of  such  great  subsequent  events,  it 
looked  like  prophecy. 

He  turned  from  his  religious  theme  to  the  needs 
of  the  colonies,  and  then  spoke  of  "that  heroic  youth, 
Colonel  George  Washington,  whom  I  can  not  but 
hope  Providence  has  hitherto  preserved  in  so  signal 
a  manner  for  some  important  service  to  his  country. " 


CHAPTER  YII 
THE  FATE  OF  THE  OHIO  VALLEY 


I.      FRONTIER  FEARS  AND  PANICS 

THERE  was  an  abundance  of  responsibility  at  once 
for  Washington  in  his  new  official  position.  All  the 
frontiers  were  being  attacked  by  Indians  urged  on 
by  the  French.  Washington  tried  to  get  his  troops 
together  to  meet  the  Indians  at  the  outposts,  but  he 
was  unable  at  the  main  post  to  muster  more  than 
twenty-five  of  the  militia.  The  others  declared  that 
if  they  had  to  die  they  preferred  to  die  with  their 
women  and  children. 

In  his  first  report  to  the  Governor,  he  wrote,  "No 
orders  are  obeyed,  but  such  as  a  party  of  soldiers  or 
my  own  drawn  sword  enforces.  Without  this,  not  a 
single  horse,  for  the  most  earnest  occasion,  can  be 
had, — to  such  a  pitch  has  the  insolence  of  these  peo- 
ple arrived,  by  having  every  point  hitherto  submitted 

57 


58         THE  STORY  OF  WASHINGTON 

to  them.  However,  I  have  given  up  none,  where  His 
Majesty's  service  requires  the  contrary,  and  where 
my  proceedings  are  justified  by  my  instructions ;  nor 
will  I,  unless  they  execute  what  they  threaten, — that 
is,  to  blow  out  our  brains." 

This  was  naturally  at  the  period  of  Washington's 
greatest  loyalty  to  his  Sovereign,  and  also  shows  that 
some  of  Braddock's  notions  of  military  authority 
still  lingered  with  him.  Perhaps  it  is  better  to  say 
that  he  recognized  the  military  necessity  for  obedient 
discipline  in  a  common  purpose  and  result,  or  there 
could  be  no  successful  army. 

We  may  easily  guess  that  the  insolence  to  which  he 
refers  was  the  frontiersman's  disrespect  for  military 
authority  and  his  growing  belief  in  his  own  right  to 
choose  the  manner  of  his  service  or  his  death.  These 
men  had  been  as  badly  treated  by  the  Braddock  style 
of  authority  as  Washington  had  been,  and  most  of 
his  troubles  doubtless  arose  from  their  memory  of  in- 
solence in  the  officers. 

As  an  example  of  the  panic  and  confusion  of  the 
times,  while  Washington  was  at  Winchester  endeav- 
oring to  get  his  troops  organized,  a  man  came  run- 
ning into  town,  one  Sunday  afternoon,  saying  in 
breathless  terror  that  a  horde  of  Indians  was  only 
twelve  miles  off,  killing  and  burning  everything  they 
came  to.  Washington  remained  up  all  night  prepar- 


THE  FATE  OF  THE  OHIO  VALLEY      59 

ing  for  the  attack.  At  about  dawn  on  Monday  morn- 
ing, another  man  arrived,  declaring  that  a  host  of 
Indians  was  now  within  four  miles  of  the  town.  He 
had  himself  heard  the  guns  of  the  Indians  and  the 
shrieks  of  the  victims.  The  scouts  sent  out  by  Wash- 
ington had  not  yet  returned,  and  the  terror-stricken 
people  at  once  guessed  that  they  had  been  ambushed 
and  killed. 

All  that  Washington  could  get  together  equipped 
to  meet  the  Indian  drive  was  only  forty  men.  At  the 
head  of  these  he  rode  forth  to  the  scene  of  massacre 
and  carnage.  All  that  they  ever  found  was  three 
drunken  troopers  who  had  been  yelling  in  their  ca- 
rousal on  the  way  to  town  and  firing  off  their  pistols. 

Washington  arrested  them  and  brought  them  in  as 
trophies  of  the  Indian  war. 

" These  circumstances,"  Washington  wrote  in  his 
report,  "show  what  a  panic  prevails  among  the  peo- 
ple ;  how  much  they  are  all  alarmed  at  the  most  usual 
customary  crimes ;  and  yet  how  impossible  it  is  to  get 
them  to  act  in  any  respect  for  their  common  safety." 

A  Captain  arriving  at  that  time  with  recruits  from 
Alexandria,  reported  that,  in  coming  across  the  Blue 
Ridge,  he  had  met  a  crowd  of  people  hastening  away 
in  terror,  whom  he  could  not  stop.  They  all  told  him 
that  the  Indians  had  overwhelmed  the  country  and 
that  Winchester  had  been  sacked  and  burned. 


60         THE  STORY  OF  WASHINGTON 

Washington  saw  that  nothing  but  confusion  and 
cross  purposes  could  prevail  under  the  conditions  as 
they  then  existed.  Accordingly,  he  set  about  to  re- 
form the  methods  and  the  laws.  Under  his  manage- 
ment, order  at  last  came  out  of  chaos.  He  also 
learned  the  uses  of  military  show  to  give  confidence 
and  he  ordered  rather  gorgeous  uniforms  to  be  sent 
him  from  England.  This  was  probably  necessary  in 
order  also  to  retain  the  respect  of  the  young  English 
officers  for  whom  it  was  often  true  that  the  clothes 
made  the  man. 


H.      POLITICAL  INTRIGUE  AND  OFFICIAL  CONFUSION 

EARLY  in  1756,  in  order  to  get  the  necessary  co- 
operation among  the  colonies,  to  settle  the  bitter 
quarrels  as  to  rank  among  officers,  and  to  give  the 
Virginia  colony  a  better  idea  of  the  plan  for  the  war, 
Washington  decided  to  visit  General  Shirley,  at  Bos- 
ton. General  Shirley  had  succeeded  General  Brad- 
dock  as  commander-in-chief  of  all  the  colonies. 

Washington,  with  his  aides  in  brilliant  uniform, 
taken  care  of  by  a  retinue  of  colored  servants  in  fin- 
est livery,  all  riding  in  a  pompous  cavalcade,  repre- 
senting the  style  of  aristocratic  Southern  gentlemen, 
made  a  profound  social  sensation  all  along  the  line 


TEE  FATE  OF  THE  OHIO  VALLEY   61 

of  their  travel,  especially  in  Philadelphia,  New  York 
and  Boston.  After  ten  days'  conference  in  Boston, 
his  mission  being  successful,  he  returned  to  Virginia 
as  he  had  come. 

On  Washington's  return  to  his  headquarters  at 
Winchester,  he  found  the  people  in  more  desperate 
terror  than  ever,  and  this  time  with  good  reason. 
The  French  and  Indians  were  indeed  ravaging  the 
country  within  twenty  miles.  Any  hour  the  enemy 
might  sweep  down  upon  the  wretched  town  and  de- 
stroy the  people.  If  Washington  could  not  save  them 
they  were  indeed  lost.  It  is  said  that  the  women  sur- 
rounded him  with  terror-stricken  cries,  holding  up 
their  children,  and  imploring  him  to  save  them  from 
the  savages. 

The  feelings  of  the  young  commander  may  be  ap- 
preciated from  the  letter  he  wrote  to  Governor  Din- 
widdie. 

"I  am  too  little  acquainted  with  pathetic  lan- 
guage," he  said,  "to  attempt  a  description  of  these 
people's  distresses.  But  what  can  I  do  ?  I  see  their 
situation;  I  know  their  danger,  and  participate  in 
their  sufferings,  without  having  it  in  my  power  to 
give  them  further  relief  than  uncertain  promises. 
The  supplicating  tears  of  the  women,  and  the  moving 
petitions  of  the  men,  melt  me  into  such  deadly  sor- 
row, that  I  solemnly  declare,  if  I  know  my  own  mind, 


62         THE  STOEY  OF  WASHINGTON 

I  could  offer  myself  a  willing  sacrifice  to  the  butcher- 
ing enemy,  provided  that  would  contribute  to  the 
people's  ease." 

But  the  Virginia  newspapers  very  freely  cast  the 
blame  for  the  Indian's  success  on  the  military  man- 
agement. Washington  was  deeply  stung  with  these 
attacks  and  he  declared  that  he  would  resign  at  once, 
if  it  were  not  for  the  immediate  dangers  pressing  so 
hard  upon  them.  Then  his  friends  began  writing  him 
encouraging  letters  and  he  was  strengthened  to  see 
the  issues  through  to  some  end. 

"The  country  knows  her  danger,"  said  one  of  the 
Virginia  legislators,  "but  such  is  her  parsimony  that 
she  is  willing  to  wait  for  the  rains  to  wet  the  powder, 
and  the  rats  to  eat  the  bowstrings  of  the  enemy, 
rather  than  attempt  to  drive  her  foes  from  her  fron- 
tiers." 

But  gradually  through  more  blundering  and  still 
more  confusion  of  purpose,  after  the  French  had  be- 
gun to  lose  heavily  in  the  North,  a  course  of  concerted 
action  was  once  more  organized  against  Fort  Du- 
quesne,  as  the  center  of  supplies  for  the  French  and 
Indians  in  their  frontier  warfare.  Scouts  contin- 
ually brought  in  reports  that  Fort  Duquesne  had 
become  greatly  weakened  and  it  was  believed  by  all 
that  this  place  should  now  be  taken  to  make  good  the 
success  on  the  northern  frontier. 


THE  FATE  OF  THE  OHIO  VALLEY      63 

At  length  such  an  expedition  was  on  the  way,  and 
Washington  wrote  to  the  Commander,  General 
Forbes,  to  be  allowed  to  join  the  expedition  with  his 
command.  This  request  was  accepted,  and,  on  July 
2, 1758,  Washington  arrived  at  Fort  Cumberland. 


HI.      "A  MATTER  OF  GREAT  ADMIRATION7' 


WAR  was  at  hand,  but  getting  into  action  to  ac- 
complish results  was  distractingly  slow.  No  word 
arrived  as  to  what  they  were  to  do.  They  remained 
at  Fort  Cumberland  to  the  disgust  of  Washington, 
and  to  the  increased  dispiriting,  sickly  condition  of 
his  men,  until  September.  Then  they  went  forward 
under  Colonel  Boquet  to  a  point  called  Loyal  Han- 
non,  fifty  miles  from  Fort  Duquesne.  Here  they 
stopped,  and,  against  Washington's  earnest  remon- 
strance, Colonel  Boquet  detached  eight  hundred  men 
from  .his  force  of  two  thousand,  and  sent  them  for- 
ward to  reconnoiter  about  Fort  Duquesne,  under 
command  of  Major  Grant.  They  were  not  to  engage 
the  enemy  but  were  to  return  and  report. 

However,  Major  Grant  believed  they  were  easily 
able  to  whip  anything  that  might  be  in  or  about  Fort 
Duquesne.  He  could  not  open  an  attack  on  them 


64         THE  STORY  OF  WASHINGTON 

according  to  orders,  but  if  lie  could  induce  them  to 
attack  Mm,  it  would  give  him  a  chance  for  a  fight. 
Accordingly,  he  made  no  attempt  to  conceal  his  ap- 
proach to  the  fort.  He  arrived  near  the  place  in  the 
night  and  sent  some  men  forward  who  set  fire  to  a  log 
house  near  the  walls  of  the  fort.  If  this  was  not 
enough  warning  to  the  enemy,  or  of  a  dare  to  come 
out  and  fight,  he  ordered  the  drums  to  beat  the 
reveille  around  the  camp  in  the  morning.  After  that 
he  lined  up  his  troops  in  battle  array,  as  did  Brad- 
dock  before  him,  and  sent  up  some  men  near  the 
fort,  to  draw  plans  of  that  structure  in  full  view  of 
the  enemy. 

There  was  not  a  shot  fired  from  the  fort  and  no 
sound  could  be  heard  within  its  walls.  Not  a  soldier 
or  an  Indian  could  be  seen. 

The  officers  became  sure  that  nothing  more  was 
needed  but  to  send  forward  the  order  for  surrender. 
The  soldiers  were  allowed  to  ground  their  arms  and 
be  at  ease.  Suddenly  the  woods  around  them  blazed 
with  the  discharge  of  rifles.  The  dreaded  warwhoop 
rang  in  their  ears.  The  tomahawk  and  scalping  knife 
was  in  their  midst.  A  second  Braddock's  defeat  had 
begun.  A  panic-stricken  rout  began.  Major  Grant 
saved  his  life  by  surrendering  to  a  French  officer,  but 
most  of  his  men  were  dead  and  the  rest  scattered  like 
wild  animals. 


THE  FATE  OF  THE  OHIO  VALLEY   65 

Back  of  them  a  short  distance  was  Captain  Bullitt, 
who  had  been  left  with  fifty  men  to  care  for  the  army 
stores.  He  rallied  together  some  of  the  fugitives  and 
they  made  a  stand  behind  the  baggage  and  wagons. 
The  Indians  rushed  forward  and  were  momentarily 
checked  by  the  sudden  fire  of  the  ambushed  men. 
Then,  with  the  on-coming  force  of  Indians  from  back 
of  the  ones  stopped,  the  rush  came  on. 

Then  Captain  Bullitt  held  up  a  signal  for  surren- 
der and  the  firing  ceased.  THe  besieged  men  all  came 
forward.  When  within  eight  yards  of  the  Indians 
waiting  to  receive  their  guns,  Captain  Bullitt  gave 
the  order  to  fire,  the  guns  having  all  been  loaded  for 
that  purpose.  From  this  destructive  volley  at  close 
range,  the  Indians  fled  in  confusion,  and  before  they 
could  rally,  Captain  Bullitt  got  his  men  and  wagons 
together,  so  protected  as  to  make  good  their  retreat. 

General  Forbes  commended  Captain  Bullitt 's 
method  of  saving  his  troops  as  "a  matter  of  great  ad- 
miration," and  rewarded  him  with  a  Major's  com- 
mission. There  has  been  much  discussion  as  to 
whether  such  methods  made  the  Indians  merciless 
or  whether  the  merciless  Indian  required  such  meth- 
ods. The  problem  is  doubtless  as  unprofitable  now 
as  it  is  unanswerable,  from  any  partisan  point  of 
view. 


CHAPTER   VIII 

THE  BEGINNING  SIGNS  OF  A  GREAT 
REVOLUTION 


I.      MILITARY  VICTORY  AND  A  HAPPY   MARRIAGE 

WASHINGTON  now  had  charge  of  the  advance  on 
Fort  Duquesne.  He  left  Loyal  Hannon  over  the 
road  Major  Grant  had  taken.  The  whole  fifty  miles 
were  strewn  with  the  bones  of  oxen,  horses  and  men. 
What  remained  of  the  bodies  of  their  comrades,  they 
buried.  Then  they  arrived  at  the  scene  of  Braddock  's 
defeat,  where  the  same  duty  was  done  for  the  dead,  a 
sad  reminder  of  the  folly  of  arrogance  and  ambition 
in  commanders. 

They  had  expected  to  have  a  hard  fight  for  the  cap- 
ture of  Fort  Duquesne.  But  the  success  of  the  Eng- 
lish in  Canada,  and  the  fall  of  Fort  Frontenac  had 
left  the  French  at  Fort  Duquesne  without  any 
chance  for  supplies  or  reinforcements.  The  fort  was 

66 


SIGNS  OF  REVOLUTION 67 

already  at  the  point  of  being  abandoned  from  neces- 
sity. Accordingly,  the  commander  waited  until  the 
English  were  within  a  day's  march  of  him,  when  he 
withdrew  his  force  of  five  hundred  men,  destroyed 
what  he  could  not  take  away,  set  fire  to  all  that  would 
burn,  embarked  at  night  in  their  long,  light  batteaux, 
by  the  flames  of  their  fort,  and  floated  down  the  Ohio, 
giving  up  their  hopeless  fight  for  the  possession  of 
the  Ohio  Valley. 

On  the  morning  of  November  5, 1758,  Washington 
with  his  advanced  guard  marched  in  and  hoisted  the 
British  flag  over  the  ruins.  The  enemy  was  gone. 
The  Indians  having  lost  the  support  of  their  French 
friends  withdrew  into  the  depths  of  the  forest. 

"Washington  rebuilt  the  place,  garrisoned  it  with 
two  hundred  men  and  named  it  Fort  Pitt  in  honor  of 
the  illustrious  British  minister,  William  Pitt. 

Washington's  military  schooling,  if  we  may  so 
term  it,  in  the  light  of  great  events  to  follow,  was  now 
ended.  He  had  been  engaged  for  marriage  several 
months  with  Mrs.  Martha  Custis,  a  widow  of  the 
noblest  womanly  character,  and  considerable  wealth. 
The  marriage  was  accordingly  celebrated  January  6, 
1759,  the  month  before  he  was  twenty-seven  years  of 
age.  He  now  settled  down,  away  from  war,  into  the 
life  of  a  business  man,  as  his  mother,  herself  a  busi- 
ness woman,  had  so  fondly  desired. 


68         THE  STORY  OF  WASHINGTON 

The  objects  for  which  the  French  and  Indian  war 
had  begun  were  now  achieved  for  the  colonists.  But 
England  was  carrying  the  war  further,  aiming  at 
nothing  less  than  the  conquest  of  Canada.  The  first 
gun  had  been  fired  at  Washington  at  the  time  he  was 
beaten  in  the  race  with  the  French  for  the  forks  of 
the  Ohio.  The  last  gun  was  fired  at  Quebec  when  all 
Canada  became  a  possession  seized  by  might  of  the 
British  arms. 

The  French  were  greatly  grieved  at  their  loss,  but 
their  great  statesmen  prophesied  that  it  was  a  fatal 
victory  for  the  English  mastery  of  North  America. 

The  Duke  de  Choiseul  said  that  it  would  awaken 
the  colonies  to  their  liberty  and  their  power.  It 
would  bring  the  ideals  of  the  wilderness  in  sharp  con- 
trast with  the  imperialism  of  England.  "They  will 
no  longer  need  her  protection,"  said  he,  "she  will  call 
on  them  to  contribute  toward  supporting  the  bur- 
dens they  have  helped  bring  on  her,  and  they  will 
answer  by  striking  off  their  dependence." 

How  true  this  was  as  a  prophecy,  the  school  his- 
tories all  show  to  every  pupil  of  the  schools,  who  will 
try  to  get  a  view  of  the  progress  and  development  of 
historical  events.  Fact  will  then  be  stranger  than 
fiction,  and  history  will  be  a  more  romantic  story, 
richer  in  the  lessons  of  life,  than  any  novel. 


SIGNS  OF  REVOLUTION  69 


II.    LIFE  FULFILLED  AS  A  VIRGINIA  COUNTRY  GENTLEMAN 

WASHINGTON,  after  his  marriage,  at  the  close  of  the 
French  and  Indian  war,  became,  as  his  mother  had 
so  long  desired  him  to  be,  a  country  gentleman,  not 
only  with  a  large  land-ownership,  but  also  dignified 
with  a  seat  in  the  legislative  assembly  of  Virginia. 
He  was  rich,  happily  married  and  a  hero!  What 
more  was  to  be  desired  in  the  heart  of  man ! 

On  the  day  when  Washington  took  his  seat  in  the 
House  of  Burgesses,  the  speaker  of  the  assembly 
arose  and  eloquently  presented  the  thanks  of  the  col- 
ony for  the  distinguished  military  services  rendered 
by  their  fellow-member  to  his  country,  and  especially 
to  the  welfare  of  Virginia. 

Washington  arose  at  the  conclusion  of  the  eulogy 
to  express  his  appreciation  for  what  had  been  spoken 
in  his  honor. 

It  is  said  that  he  "  blushed — stammered — trembled, 
and  could  not  utter  a  word." 

"Sit  down,  Mr.  Washington, "  said  the  speaker, 
"your  modesty  equals  your  valor,  and  that  surpasses 
the  power  of  any  language  I  possess." 

During  the  session  of  the  Virginia  legislature, 
Washington  lived  at  the  White  House,  as  was  called 
the  home  of  his  bride,  and  which  was  situated  on  her 


70         THE  STORY  OF  WASHINGTON 

estate,  near  Williamsburg.  That  home  has  since  been 
immortalized  as  the  name  of  the  Home  of  the  Presi- 
dents of  the  United  States. 

Mrs.  Martha  Custis  was  one  of  the  wealthiest 
women  in  the  English  colonies  when  she  married 
George  Washington.  At  her  request,  the  General 
Court  appointed  Washington  the  guardian  of  her 
boy  of  six  and  her  girl  of  four,  and  the  manager  of 
all  her  property. 

His  friends  had  long  wanted  him  to  visit  England, 
believing,  doubtless,  from  special  information,  that 
great  honors  awaited  him  there.  No  doubt  there  was 
in  easy  reach  the  usually  much-coveted  political  pre- 
ferment, such  as  might  have  made  him  beholden  to 
the  King  through  all  his  future  career.  But  we  are 
perhaps  entitled  to  believe  that  Washington's  views 
of  those  honors  were  not  qualified  by  the  grateful 
respect  that  was  necessary.  An  American  of  his 
honor  and  character  probably  cherished  the  good  will 
of  his  countrymen  as  superior  to  any  royal  conde- 
scension. 

To  these  suggestions  for  a  visit  to  England,  he  re- 
turned a  characteristic  reply,  "I  am  now,  I  believe, 
fixed  in  this  seat,  with  an  agreeable  partner  for  life, 
and  I  hope  to  find  more  happiness  in  retirement  than 
I  ever  experienced  in  the  wide  and  bustling  world." 

At  the  end  of  the  session  of  the  Virginia  legisla- 


SIGNS  OF  REVOLUTION 71 

ture,  Washington  and  his  family  left  the  "  White 
House "  and  made  their  home  at  Mount  Yernon. 
Here  he  fully  believed  he  was  settled  in  a  life  of  hap- 
piness and  peace.  It  was  the  home  of  his  childhood 
which  he  had  spent  with  his  beloved  mother  and  his 
half-brother  Lawrence. 

This  home  on  the  beautiful  highlands  of  the  Poto- 
mac was  indeed  the  center  of  a  little  empire.  It  was 
a  system  of  cultured,  wealthy  people,  graded  on  down 
to  the  colored  servants,  in  which  everything  needed 
for  luxury,  pleasure  or  enterprise  was  made  and 
ready  on  the  grounds. 

The  home  life  of  the  Washington  family  is  a  reve- 
lation of  the  aristocratic  democracy  of  the  times. 
Many  a  story  is  told  showing  the  wilderness  culture 
and  luxury  mingled  with  the  common  interests  of  the 
lowly  life. 

The  treaty  of  peace,  now  including  all  affairs  in 
the  colonies,  which  was  signed  in  1763,  between  Eng- 
land and  France,  was  greeted  as  a  happy  ending  of 
all  border  troubles  for  the  colonies.  But,  unfortu- 
nately, it  seemed  to  let  loose  the  savagery  of  the  In- 
dians, whose  tribes  were  now  going  to  pieces  before 
the  advancing  English  Settlements.  The  right  to 
the  wilderness  was  a  hand-to-hand  conflict,  in  which 
the  pioneer  frontiersmen  won  the  great  victory  for 
modern  civilization. 


72         THE  STORY  OF  WASHINGTON 


HI.      THE  MOMENTOUS  STRUGGLE  BETWEEN  MIGHT 
AND  RIGHT 

THE  border  warfare  continued  as  ferociously  as 
ever  before.  Washington,  being  out  of  military  life, 
with  heavy  business  responsibilities  upon  him,  did 
not  become  involved  in  these  conflicts. 

Meanwhile,  the  prediction  of  the  Duke  de  Choiseul 
that  the  colonies  would  rapidly  see  they  had  no  need 
of  England,  and  would  as  rapidly  cease  to  fear  its 
military  power,  was  coming  true.  Irritation  fol- 
lowed fast  upon  irritation,  and  arrogance  bred  re- 
sentment and  retaliation  so  rapidly  that  it  requires 
many  a  volume  to  tell  it  all.  The  colonists  had  to 
fight  the  battles  of  the  border  warfare,  pay  the  costs, 
support  the  arrogant  officers  sent  across  the  water, 
and  yet  find  themselves  regarded  as  inferiors  fit  only 
as  producers  for  a  land  across  the  sea.  But  it  should 
be  understood  from  the  beginning  that  history  deals 
mainly  with  the  makers  of  history  who  have  been 
almost  exclusively  generals  and  kings.  The  common- 
ers, except  as  their  minds  are  state-made,  have  no 
quarrel  with  the  commoners  of  other  countries. 

The  first  outbreak  came  against  taxes  placed  on 
personal  necessities  in  which  the  people  had  no  rights 


SIGNS  OF  REVOLUTION 73 

or  voice.  The  resentment  was  crystalized  into  an  out- 
cry against 1 1  taxation  without  representation. ' '  The 
bitter  feeling  found  voice  in  a  daring  defiance  uttered 
by  Patrick  Henry.  He  brought  forward  a  resolution 
in  the  Virginia  House  of  Burgesses,  declaring  that 
the  General  Assembly  of  Virginia  had  the  exclusive 
right  and  power  to  lay  taxes  upon  the  people  of  Vir- 
ginia, and  that  whoever  claimed  to  the  contrary  was 
an  enemy  of  the  colony.  With  that  view  the  common- 
ers of  England  were  in  general  sympathy,  including 
many  of  the  most  influential  men  in  that  country. 
But  the  British  court  was  foreign,  that  is,  conti- 
nental. History  tells  us  that  King  George  the 
First,  grandfather  of  George  the  Third,  could  speak 
only  his  native  German,  and  held  in  profound  con- 
tempt the  English  people. 

The  Speaker  of  the  House  tried  to  have  Patrick 
Henry's  resolution  modified  as  being  too  strong,  but, 
in  his  speech  for  the  resolution,  the  young  orator, 
after  a  brilliant  address,  concluded  with  the  memor- 
able and  history-making  words,  "Caesar  had  his 
Brutus;  Charles  his  Cromwell;  and  George  the 
Third, — (here  cries  of  l Treason!  Treason !'  was 
heard)  may  profit  by  their  example.  Sir,  if  this  be 

treason (here  he  bowed  to  the  Speaker) — make 

the  most  of  it!" 

The  idea  of  liberty  to  make  their  own  laws  had 


74         THE  STORY  OF  WASHINGTON 

now  sprung  forth,  and  it  was  taken  up  with  immense 
enthusiasm  throughout  the  colonies. 

The  British  Parliament  seemed  to  look  upon  the 
colonies  as  Braddock  had  done  upon  the  colonial  sol- 
diers,— they  were  only  half -civilized  inferiors,  and 
suitable  only  for  menial  service  or  to  contribute  profit 
to  the  mother  country.  Accordingly,  month  by 
month  and  year  by  year,  the  interference  and  resent- 
ment on  both  sides  increased,  by  the  passage  of  ob- 
noxious laws  on  one  side,  and  resistance  to  their  en- 
forcement on  the  other  side. 

All  this  time,  Washington  was  in  the  midst  of  the 
turmoil,  not  as  a  leader  but  more  as  a  peacemaker, 
though  always  in  full  sympathy  with  the  fast  growing 
American  idea.  As  we  take  a  swift  view  of  those 
times,  we  are  apt  to  suppose  that  the  change  of  mind, 
uniting  the  colonies  in  opposition  to  Great  Britain, 
came  suddenly  and  unanimously,  but,  as  in  all  places 
and  situations,  where  there  is  freedom  of  thinking, 
the  general  conviction  came  slowly,  especially  the 
conviction  to  use  force  in  the  defense  of  the  rights  of 
of  man  as  learned  in  the  hard  freedom  of  the  wilder- 
ness. What  we  might  call  the  high-water  mark  of 
mind,  in  favor  of  force  for  maintaining  colonial  lib- 
erty, was  that  of  Patrick  Henry,  whose  slogan  was 
"Give  me  liberty  or  give  me  death." 

On  the  other  hand,  there  were  many,  from  the  aris- 


Washington   Surrendering   His   Commission. 


SIGNS  OF  REVOLUTION 75 

tocratic  mansion  to  the  log  cabin  in  the  forest,  who 
looked  upon  force  against  the  mother  country  as  a 
horror  and  a  crime.  Between  these  extremes,  Wash- 
ington labored  for  patience  among  the  colonists  and 
a  change  of  policy  among  the  law-makers  of  Great 
Britain.  In  writing  to  his  wife's  uncle,  an  influential 
man  in  London,  he  said,  "The  Stamp  Act  engrosses 
the  conversation  of  the  speculative  part  of  the  colo- 
nists, who  look  upon  this  unconstitutional  method  of 
taxation  as  a  direful  attack  upon  their  liberties,  and 
loudly  exclaim  against  the  violation." 

In  the  New  England  colonies,  the  people  were  far 
more  fierce  in  their  resentment  toward  the  require- 
ment that  they  must  buy  stamps  to  make  legal  almost 
every  transaction.  This  method  of  getting  money 
for  the  British  government  was  so  offensive  to  Bos- 
ton that  a  publicly  encouraged  mob  hanged  the  stamp 
distributor  in  effigy,  the  windows  of  his  house  were 
broken,  and  the  building  to  be  used  as  his  office  was 
broken  to  pieces,  and  the  fragments  burned  in  the 
streets.  The  officers  of  the  town,  trying  to  disperse 
the  crowd,  were  driven  away  with  stones.  The  next 
morning  the  stamp  distributor  renounced  his  office 
in  the  public  square  and  no  one  could  be  found  will- 
ing to  take  his  place. 

Down  in  Virginia,  the  stamp  distributor  did  not 
try  to  fulfill  his  office,  but  came  on  to  Williamsburg 


76         THE  STORY  OF  WASHINGTON 

and  amidst  much  applause  publicly  denounced  the 
Stamp  Act  and  vacated  the  office. 

On  the  first  of  November,  1765,  when  the  act  was  to 
become  law  and  go  into  operation,  there  was  tolling 
of  bells  throughout  New  England.  Ships  in  the  har- 
bors displayed  their  flags  at  half-mast.  Shops  were 
shut,  business  was  suspended,  and  every  form  of  de- 
fiance they  could  invent  was  displayed  all  day  and 
that  night. 

At  New  York,  the  poster  announcing  the  law  was 
stuck  on  a  pole,  under  a  death's  head,  from  which 
floated  a  banner  bearing  the  inscription,  "The  folly 
of  England  and  ruin  of  America."  The  lieutenant- 
governor  with  all  his  official  household  went  into  the 
fort  and  surrounded  himself  with  marines  from  a 
ship  of  war.  Then  the  mob  went  to  his  stables, 
brought  out  his  carriage,  put  his  effigy  into  it, 
dragged  it  up  and  down  the  street  till  they  were  tired, 
and  then  hung  his  effigy  on  a  gallows.  That  evening 
they  took  the  effigy  down,  put  it  again  into  the  car- 
riage, this  time  by  the  side  of  an  image  of  the  devil, 
had  a  howling  torch-light  procession  to  Bowling 
Green,  and  there,  under  the  guns  of  the  fort,  burned 
the  carriage  with  the  effigies  in  it.  So  bitter  and  so 
general  was  the  disapproval  that  no  one  attempted 
to  enforce  the  law. 


CHAPTER   IX 

SOWING  THE  WIND  AND  REAPING  THE 
WHIRLWIND 


I.      MOUNT  VERNON  AT  FIRST  IN  A  ZONE  OF  CALM 

IN  all  this  storm,  Washington  remained  engrossed 
in  his  extensive  business  affairs.  It  can  not  be  in- 
ferred that  this  meant  any  indifference  on  his  part. 
It  must  be  remembered  that  by  nature  he  was  of  a  re- 
tiring disposition  and  never  put  himself  forward  as 
a  leader  in  any  agitation.  He  was  one  who  believed 
in  regularity  and  discipline.  He  could  not  destroy 
except  as  a  process  of  building.  His  fighting  spirit 
was  always  in  accomplishing  a  definite  design  for 
foreseen  ends.  It  is  thus  always  seen  that  the  man 
who  is  an  agitator  and  a  leader  of  agitation,  however 
heroic  and  noble  he  may  be  in  the  cause  of  right,  is 
never  the  calm,  judicial  mind  necessary  to  construct 
material  and  form  forces  into  a  constitutional  gov- 
ernment. The  mind  of  man  seems  first  to  require  a 

77 


78         THE  STORY  OF  WASHINGTON 

forerunner.  There  was  the  determined,  uncomprom- 
ising John  the  Baptist  for  the  gentle  and  peace-lov- 
ing Christ,  and  there  were  numerous  colonial  Patrick 
Henrys  for  Washington,  even  as  there  were  Love- 
joys,  Garrisons  and  John  Browns  for  Lincoln.  Thus 
it  appears,  without  irreverence,  that  agitation  is  as 
essential  to  education  as  legislation  is  to  government. 

Washington's  large  interests  in  trade  with  Eng- 
land, and  his  many  Old-England  friends  and  con- 
nections, would  have  turned  any  man,  who  would 
serve  his  own  personal  profit,  into  partisanship  for 
Great  Britain.  There  is  no  doubt  that  the  induce- 
ments to  favor  the  mother  country  were  large,  and 
the  promise  of  loss  for  doing  otherwise  was  very 
heavy  and  convincing.  But  he  had  seen  much  of 
English  arrogance  and  tyranny.  He  had  also  seen 
much  of  American  freedom  and  human  rights. 
There  was  probably  never  any  debate  in  his  mind  as 
to  which  meant  the  most  to  him  in  personal  duty  or 
as  an  American.  He  had  a  deeper  view  of  humanity 
than  business  interests.  But  his  hour  had  not  yet 
struck.  The  time  had  not  yet  come  when  the  colonies 
needed  Washington. 

Something  of  great  significance  took  place  in  1766. 
Benjamin  Franklin  was  called  before  the  House  of 
Commons  and  questioned  concerning  the  Stamp  Act. 

"What,"  they  asked  him,  according  to  the  Parlia- 


SOWING  THE  WIND 79 

mentary  Register  of  that  year,  "was  the  temper  of 
America  towards  Great  Britain,  before  the  year 
1763 1" 

"The  best  in  the  world,"  was  his  reply.  "They 
submitted  willingly  to  the  government  of  the  crown, 
and  paid,  in  their  courts,  obedience  to  the  acts  of  Par- 
liament. They  were  governed  at  the  expense  of  only 
a  little  pen,  ink  and  paper.  They  were  led  by  a 
thread.  They  had  not  only  respect,  but  an  affection 
for  Great  Britain,  for  its  laws,  its  customs,  and  man- 
ners, and  even  a  fondness  for  its  fashions,  that 
greatly  increased  the  commerce.  Natives  of  Great 
Britain  were  always  treated  with  particular  regard; 
to  be  an  Old-England  man  was,  of  itself,  a  character 
of  some  respect,  and  gave  a  kind  of  rank  among  us." 

"And  what  is  that  temper  now?" 

"Oh !  it  is  very  much  altered." 

"If  the  act  is  not  repealed,  what  do  you  think  will 
be  the  consequences?" 

"A  total  loss  of  the  respect  and  affection  the  peo- 
ple of  America  bear  to  this  country,  and  of  all  the 
commerce  that  depends  upon  that  respect  and  affec- 
tion." 

"Do  you  think  the  people  of  America  would  sub- 
mit to  pay  the  stamp  duty  if  it  was  moderated?" 

"No,  never,"  Franklin  replied,  "unless  compelled 
by  force  of  arms." 


80         THE  STORY  OF  WASHINGTON 

H.      GIVING  THE  APPEARANCE  AND  KEEPING  THE 
SUBSTANCE 

ON  March  18,  1766,  the  obnoxious  Stamp  Act  was 
repealed,  but  the  repeal  contained  a  clause  that  took 
all  the  merit  out  of  the  repeal,  by  maintaining  the 
principle  that  the  King,  with  the  consent  of  Parlia- 
ment, had  the  authority  and  power  to  "bind  the  colo- 
nies, and  the  people  of  America,  in  all  cases  whatso- 
ever. " 

If  the  colonies  consented  to  this  repeal  with  its 
clause,  they  would  be  affirming  the  very  thing  they 
were  opposing  in  the  Stamp  Act.  Such  "sharp  prac- 
tice ' '  could  not  win.  It  was  not  the  stamps  they  were 
opposing  alone,  nor  the  imposing  of  taxes.  They  re- 
pudiated the  idea  and  the  motive  of  the  right  to  tax 
them  without  their  consent,  one  of  the  ways  of  which 
was  to  make  them  buy  stamps  to  legalize  any  of  their 
business  transactions.  This  explicitly  proves  that 
the  Revolutionary  War  was  not  "an  economic  war," 
as  some  theorists  endeavor  to  prove,  but  a  war  of 
principle,  liberty  and  justice,  as  it  claimed  to  be. 

The  King  was  now  asserting  a  right  over  the  colo- 
nies which  he  did  not  have  anywhere  in  his  own  coun- 
try. This  was  his  will,  his  "divine  right,"  as  it  were. 
If  he  tried  to  establish  and  enforce  that  will  and  the 


SOWING  TEE  WIND 81 

colonies  endeavored  to  establish  and  enforce  their 
will  against  that  will,  then  it  would  be,  as  had  so 
often  happened  before  in  English  history,  a  war  of 
the  King  against  the  People.  So  it  is  often  described 
in  history  as  "the  King's  war"  against  the  colonies. 
To  such  an  extent  did  the  people  refuse  to  fight  it 
that  the  Hanoverian  King  had  to  hire  Hessian  mer- 
cenaries. 

We  have  long  since  learned  that  it  was  not  the  peo- 
ple of  England  against  the  people  of  America,  but 
the  war  of  a  foreign-minded  King  to  retain  a  per- 
sonal mastery  over  a  branch  of  the  English  people, 
a  right  lost  forever  among  English-speaking  people 
through  the  successful  revolt  of  the  American  Colo- 
nies in  the  name  of  American  liberty. 

The  King  through  Parliament  hastened  to  verify 
his  right  to  tax  the  Colonies  by  various  taxes  against 
single  articles.  This  was  especially  resented  at  Bos- 
ton where  the  taxes  were  most  oppressive.  The  Gen- 
eral Court  of  Massachusetts  became  a  hot-bed  of  agi- 
tation against  those  taxes.  The  excitement  of  every 
day  increased.  Violent  collisions  were  of  frequent 
occurrence  between  the  authorities  and  the  people. 
At  last,  it  became  public  that  two  regiments  were  held 
at  Halifax  ready  to  be  sent  to  Boston  to  quell  the 
remonstrances  there.  The  colonists  looked  upon 
these  signs  of  coercion  as  nothing  less  than  despo- 


82         THE  STORY  OF  WASHINGTON 

tism.  The  two  regiments  soon  arrived  with  seven 
war  vessels.  The  commander  reported  that  he  was 
sure  these  " spirited  measures"  would  soon  quell  all 
disturbances  and  restore  order. 

But  the  colonists  now  had  a  greater  grievance. 
They  held  town  meetings  and  resolved  that  the  King 
had  no  right  to  send  troops  into  the  colonies  without 
their  consent.  They  claimed  that  the  charters  of 
all  the  colonies  were  now  broken  by  this  act  of  the 
King  in  sending  troops  into  their  midst  without  their 
consent.  It  was  many  times  worse  than  taxation 
without  representation.  It  was  a  violation  of  their 
allegiance  to  Great  Britain. 

The  Boston  selectmen  refused  to  have  anything  to 
do  with  the  soldiers.  The  council  would  not  recog- 
nize that  they  had  any  rights  in  the  town.  Accord- 
ingly, the  commander  quartered  them  in  the  State- 
House  and  in  Faneuil  Hall.  The  public  was  enraged 
at  the  cannon  planted  around  these  buildings  and 
against  the  sentinels  that  challenged  the  rights  of 
free  citizens  to  come  and  go.  Besides,  their  religious 
ideas  were  equally  outraged  by  the  fife  and  drum  on 
Sunday,  with  the  oaths  and  loud  commands  of  offi- 
cers, where  heretofore  all  had  been  peace  and  quiet. 

Virginia  was  far  away  from  these  stirring  scenes 
and  news  went  slowly.  However,  Washington  recog- 
nized the  grave  significance  of  it  all.  A  letter  writ- 


SOWING  THE  WIND 83 

ten  April  5, 1769,  by  him  to  his  friend  George  Mason, 
shows  what  he  thought. 

"At  a  time,"  he  wrote,  "when  our  lordly  masters 
in  Great  Britain  will  be  satisfied  with  nothing  less 
than  the  deprivation  of  American  freedom,  it  seems 
highly  necessary  that  something  should  be  done  to 
avert  the  stroke,  and  maintain  the  liberty  which  we 
have  derived  from  our  ancestors." 

He  continued  by  discussing  what  was  the  best  way 
to  do  this  necessary  thing.  He  advised  that  the  use 
of  arms  should  be  the  last  resource  and  resort.  His 
moral  view  is  expressed  farther  on  in  the  letter  where 
he  says,  as  he  discusses  the  effect  on  the  colonists  in 
the  war  cutting  off  their  trade,  "There  will  be  a  dif- 
ficulty attending  it  everywhere  from  clashing  inter- 
ests, and  selfish,  designing  men,  ever  attentive  to 
their  own  gain,  and  watchful  of  every  turn  that  can 
assist  their  lucrative  views." 

This  shows  us  that  very  far  from  all  of  the  revo- 
lutionary people  could  be  called  heroes  of  principle 
and  entitled  to  be  regarded  as  the  founders  of  Ameri- 
can freedom.  Democracy  had  the  usual  percentage 
of  sordid  parasites,  as  well  as  its  many  noble  martyrs 
and  heroic  champions. 

Still  farther  on  in  the  same  letter,  he  says,  "I  can 
see  but  one  class  of  people,  the  merchants  excepted, 
who  will  not,  or  ought  not,  to  wish  well  to  the 


84         THE  STORY  OF  WASHINGTON 

scheme, — namely,  they  who  live  genteely  and  hospit- 
ably on  clear  estates.  Such  as  these,  were  they  not 
to  consider  the  valuable  object  in  view,  and  the  good 
of  others,  might  think  it  hard  to  be  curtailed  in  their 
living  and  enjoyments." 

Now  it  must  be  taken  into  consideration  that 
Washington  not  only  belonged  to  the  genteel  free- 
holders to  which  he  refers,  but  he  was  also  one  of  the 
largest  merchants  who  would  lose  heavily  in  any  stop- 
page of  trade  with  Great  Britain.  But  we  have 
clearly  seen  through  all  his  military  and  public  serv- 
ice, that  principle,  and  not  gain  or  comfort,  was  the 
vital  motive  of  his  conduct  and  his  life. 


m.    "SOFT  WORDS  BUTTER  NO  PARSIOPS" 


FOR  several  reasons,  the  Southern  colonies  fared 
much  better  than  the  Northern  colonies,  and  were, 
therefore,  not  stirred  to  such  feelings  of  violent  oppo- 
sition. The  spirit  of  the  Puritans,  their  severe 
economy,  rigid  form  of  piety,  and  their  hatred  of 
Kings,  animated  the  Northern  people  in  private  and 
in  public.  Their  ancestors  had  been  refugees  from 
the  tyranny  of  English  Kings,  and  there  was  not  that 
respect  for  England  which  would  cause  them  to  be 


85 


patient  under  bad  treatment.  Besides  that,  they  had 
seen  most  of  the  arrogance  and  insolence  of  the  Eng- 
lish officers  during  the  French  and  Indian  wars,  and 
had  suffered  longest  from  the  presence  of  war.  The 
officers  of  the  King  came  to  the  Northern  colonies 
with  the  idea  that  nothing  would  serve  the  purpose 
but  severity  and  coertion.  On  the  contrary,  the  peo- 
ple of  the  Southern  colonies  were  believed  at  the 
King's  court  to  be  vain  and  luxurious.  They  were 
represented  as  being  easily  pleased  by  showy  parade. 
Accordingly,  a  court  favorite,  Lord  Botetourt,  was 
chosen  to  win  the  admiration  of  Virginia.  The  de- 
scendants of  the  Puritans  were  to  be  overawed  into 
subjection  by  military  force,  the  Cavaliers  of  Vir- 
ginia were  to  be  overawed  into  compliance  by  aristo- 
cratic splendor. 

Lord  Botetourt  was  supplied  with  a  dazzling  equip- 
ment. He  arrived  in  Virginia  with  glittering  pomp 
and  circumstance.  On  the  opening  of  the  Virginia 
legislature,  he  arranged  a  brilliant  procession,  in 
which  he  was  conspicuous  in  gorgeous  uniform,  rid- 
ing in  a  state-coach  drawn  by  six  milk-white  horses. 
He  opened  the  session  of  the  Virginia  legislature  as 
if  it  were  a  royal  parliament  and  he  were  the  King. 
Then  the  ostentatious  parade  returned  him  to  the 
governor's  mansion. 

But  to  the  amazement  of  Lord  Botetourt,  this 


86         THE  STORY  OF  WASHINGTON 

grand  display  did  not  work.  The  House  of  Burg- 
esses drafted  some  drastic  demands  to  be  sent  to  the 
British  King.  At  noon  of  the  day  after  these  resolu- 
tions were  passed,  the  governor  in  dismay  went  in 
haste  to  the  Capitol,  and  appeared  before  the  as- 
sembly. 

"Mr.  Speaker,  and  gentlemen  of  the  House  of 
Burgesses,"  he  cried,  "I  have  heard  of  your  resolves, 
and  auger  ill  of  their  effects.  You  have  made  it*  my 
duty  to  dissolve  you,  and  you  are  dissolved  accord- 
ingly." 

But  his  brain-storm  had  only  the  effect  to  cause 
them  to  be  called  to  order  by  their  Speaker,  Paton 
Randolph,  in  another  house.  Washington  brought 
forward  the  draft  of  an  association  pledged  not  to 
buy  anything  from  Great  Britain  on  which  there 
was  a  tax.  This  could  not  be  enacted  into  a  law,  be- 
cause they  were  no  longer  a  legislative  body,  but,  as 
a  voluntary  pledge,  it  was  just  as  effective. 

But,  wonderful  to  relate,  Lord  Botetourt  appeared 
to  have  a  better  ordered  intelligence  than  most  of  the 
governors  sent  over  from  England.  He  saw  at  once 
the  folly  of  his  first  ideas  about  the  Southern  colo- 
nies, and  he  set  about  at  once  to  pacify  them  in  more 
reasonable  ways.  He  put  away  his  royal  show,  ac- 
tually addressed  himself  to  the  grievances  of  the 
people,  became  a  strong  opponent  to  the  taxes,  did 


SOWING  THE  WIND 87 

what  he  could  to  have  them  repealed,  and  assured  the 
Virginians  that  this  would  be  speedily  done.  The 
people  soon  had  full  confidence  in  him,  and  the 
scenes  of  excitement  so  common  in  the  Northern  colo- 
nies were  unknown  in  Virginia. 

But  there  was  one  thing  after  another  of  repres- 
sion and  retaliation  in  the  Northern  colonies.  Such 
was  the  opposition  in  the  colonies  and  the  unpopu- 
larity of  it  all  among  the  ruling  classes  in  England, 
that  the  King's  Manager,  the  Duke  of  Graf  ton,  re- 
signed and  a  favorite  of  the  King,  Lord  North,  took 
his  place,  as  chief  councillor  in  England.  Now,  the 
King  gave  up  the  fight  for  the  taxes,  but  he  still  held 
to  his  right  to  tax  the  people  as  something  that  was 
none  of  their  business.  The  tax  was  taken  off  of 
everything  except  tea.  This  one  tax  was  kept  up, 
though  a  very  light  one,  merely  as  the  King  said,  "to 
maintain  the  parliamentary  right  of  taxation.'7 
Even  the  duty  was  taken  off  of  tea,  so  that  it  was  sold 
in  America  ninepence  cheaper  a  pound  than  it  could 
be  bought  in  England. 

"Now,"  said  the  King,  "if  the  colonists  object  to 
this,  it  proves  that  they  are  determined  to  rebel 
against  our  government.'7 

He  could  not  conceive  of  such  a  thing  as  a  principle 
against  which  they  were  opposed,  and  many  a  mind 
since  his  has  been  as  blind  to  principle  and  as  full- 


88         THE  STOEY  OF  WASHINGTON 

eyed  toward  the  question  of  profit  and  loss.  It  is  this 
indescribable  thing  that  usually  divides  people  on 
public  affairs.  It  likewise  defends  the  Makers  of 
America  against  the  historical  interpretation  that 
their  revolution  was  for  any  such  sordid  origins  as 
'  *  economic  necessity. ' ' 

There  was  strong  opposition  in  parliament,  not 
only  against  all  such  taxation  but  also  against  assert- 
ing the  right  of  such  taxation.  Lord  North,  however, 
reflecting  the  will  of  King  George,  said,  "The  proper- 
est  time  to  exert  our  right  of  taxation  is  when  the 
right  is  refused. " 

So  it  is  with  all  set  wills.  The  colonists  thought 
the  same  thing  from  an  opposite  point  of  view.  It 
was  an  irresistible  body  meeting  an  immovable  body. 
Something  had  to  break. 

Lord  North  declared  that  "a  total  repeal  can  not 
be  thought  of,  till  America  is  prostrate  at  our  feet." 
That  is,  the  master  determines  not  to  hear  the  com- 
plaint of  the  slave  until  the  slave's  will  is  broken  at 
his  owner's  feet.  The  wilderness-made  minds  with 
their  self-made  freedom  were  not  built  that  way. 
The  King's  mind-evil  could  not  be  met  by  resistence, 
but,  as  it  emerged  into  colonial  wrongs,  the  only  way 
to  defeat  them  and  save  the  freedom  of  moral  law 
was  through  revolutionary  war.  The  evil  mind  using 
coertion  to  enforce  its  slave-making  wrongs  went  out 


SOWING  THE  WIND 89 

of  the  mental  regions  of  non-resistence  into  the  physi- 
cal regions  of  wrongs  where  nothing  but  force  can 
save. 

Lord  North's  promise  could  have  nothing  to  do 
with  the  case.  The  colonists  had  no  idea  of  taking 
such  a  position  as  being  prostrate  at  the  feet  of  the 
King.  They  had  felt  the  freedom  that  is  born  of  the 
wilderness  and  that  freedom  was  life.  It  was  Ameri- 
can and  it  remains  the  hope  of  the  world. 


CHAPTER  X 
ANTAGONISMS  AND  HOSTILITIES 


I.      BLAZING  THE  WAY  TO  WAR 

NOTHING  illustrates  better  the  conditions  of  mind 
in  the  long,  bitter  turmoil,  than  an  incident,  infuriat- 
ing the  people  of  Boston,  which  happened  March  5, 
1770.  A  number  of  young  men  and  boys,  probably 
fifty  or  sixty  of  them,  gathered  on  Boston  Common  to 
throw  snowballs.  A  company  of  militia  being  near, 
offered  too  tempting  an  object,  and  they  began  to 
pelt  the  soldiers.  The  claim  was  that  some  of  the 
snowballs  contained  rocks,  though  no  one  was  ser- 
iously injured.  The  soldiers  charged  the  bunch  of 
boys,  not  with  weapons,  but  with  fists,  and  put  them 
to  flight.  This  was  not  enough  for  the  victors,  and 
so  the  soldiers  pursued  the  flying  enemy.  Seeing  this, 
some  citizens  rang  alarm  bells.  A  mob  assembled 
around  the  custom  house  and  was  ordered  away.  The 
troops  were  assailed  with  clubs  and  stones.  They 

90 


ANTAGONISMS  AND  HOSTILITIES      91 

fired  into  the  crowd  and  killed  four,  wounding  sev- 
eral others.  The  town  was  aflame  with  wrath  and  the 
troops  were  removed  to  the  barracks  outside  to  pre- 
vent further  bloodshed.  Though  it  was  hardly  disas- 
trous enough  to  deserve  the  name,  "Boston  Massa- 
cre, ' '  yet  there  was  no  doubt  that  nothing  in  the  early 
days  of  the  revolution,  had  more  effect  in  setting  the 
minds  of  the  people  against  England.  It  was  a  sign 
of  the  times,  and  was  like  a  little  word  that  may  some- 
times mean  as  much  as  a  whole  discourse,  especially 
when  a  social  group  of  minds  is  unified  in  one  interest 
of  opposition  or  defense. 

It  was  during  these  stirring  times  in  the  North 
that  Washington  was  prevailed  on  by  the  Colonial 
government  to  visit  the  Indian  tribes  on  the  Ohio  for 
a  better  understanding  of  the  right  of  each  side  under 
the  existing  treaties.  His  journey  to  the  site  of  old 
Fort  Duquesne,  renamed  Fort  Pitt,  where  Pittsburg 
now  stands,  was  full  of  romantic  memories,  and  was 
met  with  many  assurances  of  friendship  among  the 
now  reconciled  Indians. 

Through  the  many  interesting  scenes,  still  some- 
what perilous  from  the  uncertainty  of  Indian  friend- 
ship, he  arrived  at  the  mouth  of  the  Great  Kanawha. 
It  was  at  this  place  where  Washington  was  visited 
by  an  old  Indian  Sachem,  who  approached  him  with 
great  reverence  as  if  he  were  in  the  presence  of  a 


92         THE  STOEY  OF  WASHINGTON 

very  superior  being.  Through  the  interpreter,  the 
Indian  chief  said  that  he  had  heard  of  his  coming  to 
their  country  and  had  come  a  long  way  to  see  him. 
He  explained  his  unusual  interest  by  saying  that  he 
had  led  his  warriors  against  the  English  under  Gen- 
eral Braddock.  It  was  he  with  his  band  of  braves  who 
had  lain  in  ambush  on  the  banks  of  the  Monongahela 
and  had  done  such  deadly  slaughter  to  the  English 
troops.  But  his  reverence  for  Washington  had  a  spe- 
cial reason.  The  Indians  saw  Washington  as  one 
of  the  boldest,  riding  fearlessly  over  the  battlefield, 
carrying  the  General's  orders.  The  chief  and  his 
warriors  had  singled  Washington  out  as  one  they 
must  kill.  They  had  tried  their  best  but  their  bul- 
lets never  found  him.  At  last  they  would  not  wa'ste 
their  bullets  on  him  because  he  had  a  charmed  life, 
under  the  protection  of  the  Great  Spirit.  And  who 
knows  about  these  things !  Everything  may  not  be  of 
inevitable  physical  order!  The  simple  Indian  may 
have  been  nearer  the  truth  than  would  be  any  psycho- 
logical or  scientific  explanation. 

The  Indians  very  generally  believed  that  the  Great 
Spirit  exercised  power  over  bullets,  and,  in  many  in- 
stances, faced  death  fearlessly  in  the  faith  raised  by 
their  "medicen-man"  that  the  enemy's  bullets  could 
not  harm  them.  Religious  assurance  of  some  kind  is 
the  consolation  of  every  mind. 


ANTAGONISMS  AND  HOSTILITIES      93 

H.      THE  DOUBLE-QUICK  MARCH  TO  REVOLUTION 

THAT  Washington  could  be  righteously  indignant 
and  unmercifully  sarcastic  may  be  inferred  from  a 
letter  written  to  Colonel  George  Muse,  who  had  been 
Washington's  military  instructor  at  Mount  Yernon 
in  1751.  Colonel  Muse  had  been  accused  of  coward- 
ice in  the  campaign  with  Washington  to  the  Ohio  in 
1754,  and  Washington  had  with  difficulty  obtained 
for  him  a  grant  of  ten  thousand  acres  of  land  in  the 
Ohio  territory,  as  was  given  to  the  other  officers  in 
the  expedition.  Colonel  Muse  was  dissatisfied  and 
so  wrote  a  letter  to  Washington,  the  contents  of 
which  we  can  surmise  only  from  Washington's  reply. 

"Sir, — Your  impudent  letter  was  delivered  to  me 
yesterday,"  he  wrote.  "As  I  am  not  accustomed  to 
receive  such  from  any  man,  nor  would  have  taken  the 
same  language  from  you  personally,  without  letting 
you  feel  some  marks  of  my  resentment,  I  advise  you 
to  be  cautious  in  writing  me  a  second  of  the  same 
tenor;  though  I  understand  you  were  drunk  when 
you  did  it,  yet  give  me  leave  to  tell  you  that  drunken- 
ness is  no  excuse  for  rudeness." 

After  describing  what  had  been  done  for  the  un- 
grateful man,  Washington  closed  his  letter  by  say- 


94         THE  STORY  OF  WASHINGTON 

ing,  "All  my  concern  is  that  I  ever  engaged  myself  in 
behalf  of  so  ungrateful  and  dirty  a  fellow  as  you 


are." 


Meanwhile,  the  King  of  England  was  searching  for 
means  to  wear  down  the  opposition  of  the  colonies  to 
his  assertion  of  the  right  to  personal  rule  over  them 
through  Parliament.  So  complete  was  the  refusal  of 
the  colonies  to  use  tea,  that  the  warehouses  of  the 
East  India  Company  were  full  of  tea,  and  their  profit 
dwindled.  A  happy  suggestion  was  made  to  the 
King.  Let  the  tea  go  free  duty,  and  so  cheap  on  ac- 
count of  the  surplus,  to  the  colonies,  that  they  will 
buy  it  and  thus  not  only  relieve  the  warehouses  but 
also  establish  the  principle  of  the  right  to  tax  articles 
sold  in  the  colonies.  The  proposition  was  put  into 
effect.  The  contents  of  the  warehouses  were  emptied 
into  ships  and  sent  to  various  ports  in  the  American 
colonies.  The  King  depended  on  human  nature  as 
he  understood  it  to  be.  Like  many  another  ruler  who 
believes  he  can  rule  by  juggling  ideas  and  manipu- 
lating minds,  he  deceived  himself.  The  people  were 
starving  for  tea!  They  had  long  lived  without  tea 
like  foolish  children  who  would  play  no  way  but  their 
own  way.  Now,  they  would  tumble  over  one  another 
to  get  the  long  desired  tea.  There  would  be  a  car- 
nival carousal  of  tea  drinking  in  America!  But 
somehow  the  thing  didn't  work.  There  was  still  a 


ANTAGONISMS  AND  HOSTILITIES      95 

wonderful  perverseness  in  the  half -civilized  subjects 
of  the  King  in  the  American  wilderness.  They 
seemed  suddenly  to  be  all  alike.  No  doubt  there  were 
many  who  would  gladly  have  profited  by  the  King's 
contempt  for  principle,  but  profit  was  timid  and 
principle  was  bold. 

New  York  and  Philadelphia  turned  the  ships 
around  and  ordered  them  to  set  sails  at  once  for  Eng- 
land. In  Charleston  they  stored  the  tea  in  cellars 
where  it  remained  untouched  until  it  was  ruined.  In 
Boston,  upon  which  the  King's  anger  was  centered, 
as  the  cause  of  all  the  strife,  the  conflict  of  wills  was 
more  desperate.  The  captains  found  that  they  could 
not  unload  the  tea  and  when  they  tried  to  get  clear- 
ance papers  to  leave  the  harbor,  they  were  refused. 
They  could  not  come  in  nor  go  out.  But  this  meant, 
as  the  people  soon  saw,  that  the  tea  was  to  be  held 
there  on  the  ships  until  the  soldiers  could  be  used 
to  enforce  the  sale  of  tea,  and  thus  coerce  the  people 
into  acknowledging  the  claims  of  the  King  "to  rule 
and  reign  over  them,"  according  to  his  will. 

The  two  sides  had  now  " chosen  up,"  as  it  were,  and 
had  begun  to  climb  the  steps  to  war. 

To  forestall  the  landing  of  the  tea  under  cover  of 
the  soldiers,  a  company  of  Boston  people  assembled 
on  the  night  of  December  18,  1773,  disguised  them- 
selves as  Indians,  boarded  the  ships,  broke  open  all 


96         TEE  STORY  OF  WASHINGTON 

the  chests  of  tea,  and  emptied  the  object  of  all  the 
trouble  into  the  sea. 

There  was  no  excitement  apparent  in  doing  this. 
When  all  the  tea  in  Boston  harbor  was  floating  on  the 
waves,  the  make-believe  Indians  returned  peacefully 
to  their  homes,  and  went  to  bed,  doubtless  sleeping 
"the  sleep  of  the  righteous." 

All  the  wrath  of  the  King  and  his  associates  were 
now  centered  definitely  on  Boston.  In  swift  retalia- 
tion the  Boston  Port  Bill  was  passed  by  Parliament, 
closing  the  harbor  and  transferring  the  capital  to 
Salem.  A  little  later,  the  charter  of  the  province  was 
changed  so  as  to  bring  the  colony  directly  under  the 
control  of  the  English  government.  Then  a  Riot  Bill 
was  passed  so  that  any  person,  if  indicted  for  a  high 
crime,  could  be  sent  to  England  for  trial.  First,  it 
was  taxing  without  representation,  then  it  was 
quartering  soldiers  upon  them  without  their  consent, 
and  now  it  was  a  violation  of  the  right  to  be  tried  by  a 
jury  of  their  peers.  The  intolerable  had  climbed  the 
swift  steps  of  war  to  the  impossible.  American  free- 
dom could  not  thus  be  made  the  puppet  of  any  king. 

It  was  historical  evidence  how  "one  thing  brings 
on  another"  in  a  quarrel  of  wills,  and  how  force  can 
not  control  rebellious  minds.  Brain-storms  of  feel- 
ing, whether  in  child  or  mob,  are  not  to  be  stilled  by 
retaliation  or  despotism. 


ANTAGONISMS  AND  HOSTILITIES      97 


HI.      YIOLENCE  AND  FLATTERY  AS  METHODS  OF  MASTERY 

IN  wide  contrast  to  the  use  of  force  for  Massachu- 
setts, was  the  plan  being  carried  out  to  pacify 
Virginia.  Lord  Dunmore  was  sent  as  governor  to 
Virginia  with  the  same  idea  of  princely  show  as  char- 
acterized Lord  Botetourt.  He  established  a  court 
circle  with  almost  kingly  pomp  and  splendor.  He 
began  the  great  game  of  playing  to  the  aristocracy  of 
the  " Ancient  Dominion."  All  the  wealthy  families 
were  entertained  at  the  Governor's  mansion  in  gor- 
geous style.  Washington  was  among  the  first  to  be 
so  honored  and  entertained.  It  looked  as  if  all  Vir- 
ginia was  at  the  feet  of  the  royal  governor,  raptur- 
ously "eating  out  of  his  hand." 

The  House  of  Burgesses  convened  and  everything 
seemed  to  be  going  the  King's  way,  when  a  letter  was 
received  stating  what  had  been  done  to  Boston.  Then 
things  were  different.  Principle,  freedom  and  sym- 
pathy joined  hands,  and  court-flattery  went  to  the 
scrap-heap. 

The  letter  was  read  before  the  assembly.  At  once 
all  other  business  was  thrown  aside.  A  protest  was 
adopted  to  be  sent  to  England,  and  a  resolution  was 
passed  setting  apart  the  first  day  of  June  (the  day 


98         THE  STORY  OF  WASHINGTON 

on  which  the  port  of  Boston  was  to  be  closed),  as  a 
day  of  fasting,  prayer  and  humiliation,  in  which  all 
minds  should  be  united  firmly  opposing  the  contem- 
plated suppression  of  American  liberties,  and  to 
avert  the  evils  of  civil  war. 

Repeating  what  his  predecessor,  Lord  Botetourt, 
had  done  and  seeming  to  learn  nothing  from  that 
really  well-intentioned  man's  experiences,  Lord  Dun- 
more,  the  next  morning  ordered  the  House  of  Burg- 
esses to  appear  before  him  in  the  council  chamber. 

4 'Mr.  Speaker,  and  Gentlemen  of  the  House  of 
Burgesses, "  he  began,  "I  hold  in  my  hand  a  paper, 
published  by  order  of  your  House,  conceived  in  such 
terms,  as  reflect  highly  upon  his  Majesty  and  the 
Parliament  of  Great  Britain,  which  makes  it  neces- 
sary for  me  to  dissolve  you,  and  you  are  dissolved  ac- 
cordingly. " 

But  as  before,  the  assembly  did  not  disperse.  It 
gathered  in  a  hall  where  the  members  unanimously 
passed  the  most  drastic  resolutions  of  defiance,  and, 
what  was  most  significant  of  all,  ordered  the  Commit- 
tee of  Correspondence  to  communicate  with  the  va- 
rious colonies  on  the  expediency  of  appointing  depu- 
ties to  meet  annually  in  a  General  Congress  of  Brit- 
ish America. 

Every  word  and  deed  of  Washington,  and  there  is 
abundance  of  them  on  record,  shows  that  he  was  in 


Washington  and  His  Cabinet. 


99 


full  and  hearty  sympathy  with  all  these  sentiments 
against  Great  Britain,  though  he  and  Lord  Dunmore, 
and  their  families,  mingled  frequently  in  a  social 
way.  Washington's  mind  was  not  one  to  be  swayed 
by  particular  instances  of  pride  or  profit.  The  goal 
before  him  was  never  obscured  by  side  issues  or  tem- 
porary interests. 


CHAPTER  XI 
GREAT  MINDS  IN  THE  GREAT  STORM 


I.      SUPPRESSING  AMERICANS 

GENERAL  THOMAS  GAGE  was,  in  the  approaching 
crisis,  made  military  commander  at  Massachusetts, 
as  the  man  most  experienced  and  able  to  enforce  the 
Parliamentary  laws.  He  had  led  the  advance  guard 
at  Braddock's  defeat,  had  married  an  American  girl 
and  had  lived  long  in  the  colonies.  It  would  seem 
that  he  ought  to  have  known  well  the  character  of 
the  colonists.  But,  he  had  already  advised  the  King 
that,  "The  Americans  will  be  lions  only  as  long  as 
the  English  are  lambs." 

The  idea  still  prevails  that  there  is  a  lamb-coward 
always  in  the  presence  of  a  lion-hero.  General  Gage 
promised  that  he  would  enforce  all  laws  if  given  five 
regiments. 

As  suggested  by  the  Virginia  Assembly,  "a  solemn 
league  and  covenant"  was  circulated  throughout  the 

100 


GREAT  MINDS  IN  THE  GREAT  STORM    101 

provinces,  in  which  the  subscribers  bound  themselves 
to  cease  from  all  intercourse  with  Great  Britain, 
from  the  month  of  August,  until  Massachusetts 
should  regain  its  chartered  rights.  Furthermore,  it 
was  an  iron-clad  use  of  the  boycott  and  lock-out.  It 
pledged  the  signers  that  they  would  have  no  dealings 
with  any  one  who  refused  to  enter  into  that  compact. 
This  meant  that  home-principle  had  to  have  a  method 
against  home-profit.  Capital  was  timidly  cowering 
between  what  seemed  to  it  as  "the  devil  and  the  deep 


sea." 


General  Gage  declared  in  a  proclamation  that  the 
document  was  illegal  and  the  signers  traitors.  He 
planted  a  force  of  infantry  and  artillery  on  the  Bos- 
ton Common  and  prepared  himself  to  enforce  the 
edict  of  the  British  Parliament  and  his  own  judg- 
ment. Thus,  another  high  step  was  taken  in  the 
climb  to  war.  The  great  drama  was  developing  scene 
by  scene  that  was  to  bring  forth  Washington  as  a 
warrior,  president  and  statesman,  the  titular 
"Father  of  his  Country." 

As  we  proceed  on  our  historic  journey,  needed  to 
understand  the  making  of  Washington,  and  his  mean- 
ing for  Americans,  we  are  now  approaching  his  first 
appearance  as  a  leader.  This  comes  to  pass  after  he 
decides  that  every  resource  and  means  have  been 
used  in  vain  for  justice  toward  the  colonies. 


102       THE  STORY  OF  WASHINGTON 

On  July  18, 1773,  a  meeting  of  Fairfax  County  was 
held,  with  Washington  as  the  presiding  officer,  to  dis- 
cuss their  attitude  toward  the  English  government 
and  its  methods  toward  the  colonies.  This  general 
meeting  of  protest  was  held  immediately  after  Wash- 
ington's return  from  the  session  of  the  House  of 
Burgesses  at  Williamsburg. 

As  Chairman  of  the  committee  on  resolutions,  he 
had  probably  much,  if  not  all,  to  do  with  the  language 
used,  and  it  is  significant,  that  the  resolutions  ended 
with  a  phrase  which  contained  the  threat  of  inde- 
pendence through  war.  They  called  on  the  King  to 
reflect  that  "from  our  Sovereign  there  can  be  but  one 
appeal."  This  shows  the  idea  that  was  in  Washing- 
ton's mind  for  he  had  already  decided,  as  shown  by 
his  letters,  that  the  King  could  not  be  changed,  and, 
therefore,  that  the  only  appeal  was  to  be  made  to  the 
higher  authority  of  right  through  the  might  of  war. 

Washington  was  now  entering  heart  and  soul  into 
the  great  controversy.  He  was  chosen  as  a  delegate 
from  the  county  to  the  colony  meeting  at  Williams- 
burg  on  the  first  of  August,  1773. 

The  Virginia  delegates  assembled  at  the  capital 
as  planned.  Washington  presented  the  resolution 
adopted  by  his  county  and  made  a  fervid  address  in 
its  support.  It  is  said  he  declared  himself  ready  to 
raise  a  thousand  men  at  his  own  expense,  and  march 


GREAT  MINDS  IN  THE  GREAT  STOEM    103 

at  their  head  to  the  relief  of  Boston.  It  is  safe  to  say 
that  if  Washington  and  Patrick  Henry  could  have 
lived  through  to  1861,  there  would  have  been  no  Civil 
War,  or  even  if  the  Spirit  of  Washington  and  Henry 
could  have  lived  in  the  hearts  of  the  people. 

The  Virginia  convention  adopted  resolutions  based 
on  the  Fairfax  resolution,  and  Washington  with  six 
others,  destined  to  become  famous  in  American  his- 
tory, were  appointed  delegates  to  the  General  Con- 
gress, that  was  to  meet  in  Philadelphia. 

The  high-handed  measures  against  Boston  had 
ruined  that  town.  The  rich  became  poor  and  the  poor 
were  at  the  verge  of  starvation,  but  there  was  no  out- 
cry. The  silent  misery  and  calm  determination  were 
a  puzzle  to  the  General  who  could  not  subdue  such 
opposition  with  cannon.  The  people  went  in  crowds 
to  hear  their  speakers  placidly  arguing  the  condi- 
tions. There  was  no  excuse  to  order  the  people  to 
disperse,  so  that  Gage  found  it  necessary  to  have  a 
law  passed  that  the  people  should  not  assemble  to 
discuss  government  affairs.  But  the  whole  problem 
had  now  taken  on  a  larger  form.  On  September  5, 
1774,  delegates  from  all  the  colonies,  excepting  Geor- 
gia, met  in  Carpenter 's  Hall,  Philadelphia. 

Patrick  Henry  and  Edmund  Pendleton  came  on 
to  Mount  Yernon,  and  from  there  the  three  giants  of 
moral  rights  and  human  liberty  rode  on  together  to 


104       THE  STORY  OF  WASHINGTON 

the  meeting,  affecting  so  deeply  the  eternal  meaning 
of  America. 

When  the  question  arose  in  the  meeting  concerning 
the  voting  of  delegates,  some  colonies  having  more 
than  others,  Patrick  Henry,  with  his  fiery  zeal,  de- 
clared any  idea  of  sectional  distinctions  or  local  in- 
terests to  be  absurd. 

"All  America,"  he  cried,  "is  thrown  into  one  mass. 
Where  are  your  landmarks — your  boundaries  of  colo- 
nies? They  are  all  thrown  down.  The  distinction 
between  Virginians,  Pennsylvanians,  New  Yorkers, 
and  New  Englanders,  are  no  more.  I  am  not  a  Vir- 
ginian but  an  American." 

What  a  great  pity  that  eighty-six  years  later,  the 
patriotism  of  Patrick  Henry  could  not  have  been 
felt,  and  the  one  great  horror  of  American  history 
would  then  never  have  occurred. 


H.      THE  BUSINESS  OF  GETTING  READY 

THE  first  General  Assembly  in  the  history  of  the 
New  World  came  together  in  great  solemnity.  They 
felt  that  it  should  be  opened  by  some  religious  serv- 
ice, and  yet,  they  feared  to  introduce  religious  antag- 


GEE  AT  MINDS  IN  THE  GREAT  STORM    105 

onism,  for  it  was  a  period  when  religious  controver- 
sies were  often  more  extreme  and  bitter  than  any 
political  controversies. 

Then  Samuel  Adams  of  reverend  fame  arose  and 
said,  "I  shall  willingly  join  in  prayer  with  any  gen- 
tleman of  piety  and  virtue,  whatever  might  be  his 
cloth,  provided  he  is  a  friend  of  his  country." 

Samuel  Adams  was  a  very  rigorous  Congregation- 
alist,  but  religion  with  him  had  no  claims  that  did  not 
include  justice  and  patriotism.  He  nominated  the 
Reverend  Mr.  Duche  of  Philadelphia,  who  was  an 
Episcopalian,  to  open  the  session  with  prayer. 

The  reverend  Duche  appeared  in  his  canonicals  at- 
tended by  his  clerk.  He  read  the  morning  service  of 
the  Episcopal  church.  The  Psalter  for  that  day  of 
the  month,  the  seventh,  included  the  thirty-fifth 
Psalm.  The  central  idea  of  the  Psalm  was  that  of  the 
Assembly. 

1  'Plead  my  cause,  O  Lord,  with  them  that  strive 
with  me;  fight  against  them  that  fight  against  me. 
Take  hold  of  shield  and  buckler,  and  stand  up  for  my 
help.  Draw  out,  also,  the  spear,  and  stop  the  way  of 
them  that  persecute  me." 

It  is  said  that  when  the  assembly  was  organized 
and  ready  for  the  introduction  of  their  momentous 
business,  that  a  long,  deep,  death-like  silence  fell 
upon  them.  Every  one  hesitated  to  begin.  The  sense 


106       THE  STORY  OF  WASHINGTON 

of  inaction  was  becoming  oppressive  when  Patrick 
Henry  arose.  Such  a  great  occasion  was  suitable  to 
his  eloquence  and  when  he  sat  down  amidst  the  mur- 
murs of  astonishment  and  the  shouts  of  applause, 
he  was  conceded  to  be  the  greatest  orator  in  America. 

This  history-making  convention  had  fifty-one  dele- 
gates and  it  remained  in  session  fifty-one  days.  The 
meetings  were  held  in  secret,  and  it  is  now  unknown 
the  part  that  Washington  took  in  it,  but,  when  Pat- 
rick Henry  returned  home,  he  was  asked  who  was 
the  most  powerful  councillor  in  the  convention,  and 
he  unhesitatingly  said,  " Washington/' 

That  Washington  foresaw  the  course  of  events  may 
be  readily  gathered  from  a  letter  he  wrote  at  this  time 
to  a  very  close  friend,  Captain  Robert  Mackenzie, 
who  had  severely  criticised  the  colonies  from  the 
British  point  of  view.  Like  too  many  who  are  now 
charged  with  the  destiny  of  the  great  American  re- 
public by  their  v-tes,  Ivf avL^ nzie  could  reason  only 
on  the  visible  results,  and  could  not  give  any  atten- 
tion to  the  causes  of  the  events.  He  had  no  spiritual 
valuation.  He  could  reason  only  from  material  in- 
terests. Washington  closed  a  very  emphatic  and  rad- 
ical letter  to  him  with  the  warning  and  prophecy, 
"and  give  me  leave  to  add,  as  my  opinion,  that  more 
blood  will  be  spilled  on  this  occasion,  if  the  ministry 
are  determined  to  push  matters  to  extremity,  than 


GREAT  MINDS  IN  THE  GREAT  STORM    107 

history  has  ever  yet  furnished  instances  of  in  the 
annals  of  North  America." 

England  had  been  what  might  be  termed  good  to 
the  Southern  colonies.  As  for  harsh  measures,  the 
worst  from  a  political  point  of  view  was  in  dissolv- 
ing the  Virginia  legislatures.  The  Southern  Colonies 
were  under  the  business  management  of  descendants 
from  the  royalist  cavaliers  who  had  been  driven  from 
England  by  the  forefathers  of  the  descendants  mak- 
ing up  the  colonies  of  New  England.  There  was 
thus  an  inherited  tradition  of  antagonism,  which 
many  well-meaning  patriots  assume  as  their  basis  of 
justice  and  judgment.  Political 'welfare  must  be  es- 
timated from  present  conditions.  Avengers  of  the 
ancient  wrong  want  to  punish  history  rather  than 
make  history.  They  assume  that  it  is  better  to  begin 
with  what  was  than  with  what  is.  But  in  the  com- 
mon need,  all  such  differences  were  forgotten.  The 
differences  were  remembered  only  by  the  great 
grand-children  of  the  revolutionary  heroes. 

The  Northern  Colonies  and  the  Southern  Colonies 
were,  true  enough,  antagonistic  in  their  origin,  en- 
tirely opposite  in  the  social  differences  between  the 
severe  Puritan  and  the  aristocratic  Cavalier,  and 
worse  than  all,  they  were  antagonistic  in  their  re- 
ligion, the  North  being  many  kinds  of  dissenters,  and 
the  South,  in  its  governing  classes,  being  Episcopal- 


108       THE  STORY  OF  WASHINGTON 

ian.  Their  social,  religious  and  material  interests 
never  had  been  the  same,  and  they  had  little  in  com- 
mon even  in  the  French  and  Indian  wars.  This  out- 
line contrast  is  given  to  show  how  the  question,  espe- 
cially for  the  South,  was  not  material  profit  or  of 
opposition  to  oppression  from  force,  but  was  the  ex- 
pression of  an  American  Ideal  uniting  all  minds,  as 
a  meaning  for  the  equal  rights  of  all  in  our  humanity. 
It  shows  that  there  is  an  ideal  of  human  rights  that 
has  the  allegiance  of  human  hearts  above  all  consid- 
erations of  flattery,  or  coertion,  or  for  any  of  the 
thousands  of  considerations  that  may  cause  an  in- 
dividual judgment  or  fix  the  will.  There  may  be 
amazing  differences  in  personal  and  party  interests, 
but  there  can  be  none,  even  in  the  varieties  of  intel- 
ligence or  conditions,  when  it  comes  to  the  rights  to 
freedom  in  the  views  of  genuine  Americans.  Only 
partisans  attack  the  motives  of  persons  who  are  try- 
ing to  advance  human  liberty  and  peace  according  to 
the  duties  and  rights  of  civilization.  By  such  signs 
shall  ye  know  them  and  beware.  They  are  not  Amer- 
icans and  their  moral  deformity  is  the  peril  of 
America.  The  real  idealist  lives  the  vision  of  moral 
order,  not  only  for  his  group,  but  for  all  the  world. 
The  moral  law  for  each  and  all  is  our  idealism  of  the 
universe. 


GREAT  MINDS  IN  THE  GREAT  STORM    109 

m.      MANY  MEN  OF  MANY  MINDS 

ENGLAND  could  not  manage  its  American  colonial 
interests  because  the  government  had  no  ideal  of  the 
colonies  beyond  that  of  a  commercial  business,  and 
the  colonies  could  not  handle  the  interests  of  Eng- 
land in  America  because  each  colony  was  a  separate 
organization  having  political  interests  together  in 
common  only  in  the  British  Parliament.  On  that  ac- 
count they  never  felt  together,  except  as  their  mutual 
interest  in  Parliament  was  injured.  Notice  this 
fundamental  origin  of  social  union,  and  see  how  it 
had  to  be  wrangled  over  from  the  close  of  the  Revo- 
lutionary War  in  1781,  to  the  adoption  of  the  Con- 
stitution, and  the  election  of  a  president  under  it  in 
1789.  And  even  then,  a  fundamental  origin  for  so- 
cial interests,  and,  therefore,  of  patriotism,  was  not 
achieved  until  a  frightful  civil  war  closed  the  struggle 
for  separate  units  of  interest,  as  independent  sov- 
ereignities,  in  1865. 

Mr.  Curtis,  an  English  philosopher-historian,  writ- 
ing about  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  after  the  begin- 
ning of  these  world-making  origins  of  the  American 
ideal,  quotes  Doyle's  history  referring  to  the  revolt 
of  the  colonies,  in  which  it  is  said,  "If  the  Southern 
Colonies  were  to  take  their  full  share  of  interest  in 


110       THE  STORY  OF  WASHINGTON 

the  struggle,  it  was  clear  that  it  must  not  be  left  to  a 
New  England  army  under  a  New  England  general. 
But  we  may  be  sure  that  the  choice,  desirable  in  it- 
self, of  a  Southern  general,  was  made  much  easier 
by  the  presence  of  a  Southern  candidate  so  specially 
fitted  for  the  post  as  Washington.  Not  indeed  that 
his  fitness  was  or  could  be  as  yet  fully  revealed.  In- 
telligence and  public  spirit,  untiring  energy  and  in- 
dustry, a  fair  share  of  technical  skill,  and  courage 
almost  dangerous  in  its  recklessness, — all  these  were 
no  doubt  perceived  by  those  who  appointed  Wash- 
ington. What  they  could  not  have  foreseen  was  the 
patience  with  which  a  man  of  clear  vision,  heroic 
bravery,  and  intense  directness,  bore  with  fools  and 
laggards,  and  intrigues;  and  the  disinterested  self- 
devotion  which  called  out  all  that  was  noblest  in  the 
national  character,  which  shamed  selfish  men  into  a 
semblance  of  union.  Still  less  could  it  have  been  fore- 
seen that,  in  choosing  a  military  chief,  Congress  was 
training  up  for  the  country  that  civil  leader,  without 
whose  aid  an  effective  constitution  would  scarcely 
have  been  attained." 


CHAPTER  XII 

THE  HOUSE  LONG  DIVIDED  AGAINST 

ITSELF 


I.     UNPATRIOTIC  CONFUSION  OF  OPINIONS  AND 
INTERESTS 

IN  order  to  appreciate  the  difficulties  which  Wash- 
ington had  to  overcome,  and  therefore  to  make  any 
just  estimate  of  his  character,  his  patriotism  and  his 
services  in  the  cause  of  political  liberty,  the  condi- 
tions in  which  he  worked  must  be  understood.  It 
must  not  be  assumed  that  he  had  a  united  country,  a 
solid  backing,  and  that  there  was  unanimous  patriot- 
ism sustaining  him.  To  do  so  would  not  only  be  un- 
true, but  it  would  belittle  the  almost  superhuman 
task  which  gave  birth  to  American  government,  and 
made  possible  the  final  organization  through  Abra- 
ham Lincoln  of  a  land  of  the  free,  able  to  sustain  its 
freedom  against  all  the  struggling  masteries  of  the 
world.  To  suppose  that  Washington  did  his  revolu- 

111 


112       THE 'STORY  OF  WASHINGTON 

tionary  work  in  the  midst  of  reliable  patriotism  is 
as  erroneous  as  to  suppose  that  Lincoln  did  his  na- 
tion-saving task  in  the  midst  of  a  unanimous  North. 

There  was  no  such  thing  as  patriotism  at  the  time 
of  Washington,  according  to  the  usual  definition  of 
patriotism,  because  there  was  no  geographical  terri- 
tory holding  a  united  people,  for  whom  or  for  which 
to  feel  a  national  patriotism. 

American  patriotism,  therefore,  began  in  the  pa- 
triotism for  human  rights,  not  thus  making  "a  man 
without  a  country, "  as  patriotism  for  humanity  has 
been  sometimes  defined  alike  by  extreme  pacifists  and 
extreme  militarists,  but  in  the  fact  that  American 
democracy  and  humanity  are  synonymous  terms,  in 
all  they  can  mean  for  the  rights  of  man. 

There  was  then  no  political  country  to  be  patriotic 
for.  There  were  only  colonies.  Patrick  Henry's 
cry,  so  pathetic  in  its  divine  need,  and  so  little  true 
for  his  fellows  as  shown  in  1861,  "I  am  not  a  Virgin- 
ian, I  am  an  American,"  rang  through  the  congress 
at  Philadelphia  with  the  thrill  of  a  new  vision  of 
human  faith,  but  it  was  almost  a  century,  through  an 
age  of  desperate  reconstruction,  before  it  could  be 
even  approximately  called  true;  before  American 
democracy  and  humanity  could  face  the  warring 
world,  the  King-made  world,  with  one  meaning,  one 
service  and  one  moral  law. 


HOUSE  DIVIDED  AGAINST  ITSELF    113 

John  Adams,  of  indisputable  authority,  tells  us 
that  more  than  a  third  of  the  property  owners  and 
men  of  affairs,  were  opposed  to  the  revolution 
throughout  the  war. 

Lecky,  in  his  history  of  England,  declares  that  an 
examination  of  the  correspondence  of  the  revolution 
at  any  period  shows  that,  "in  the  middle  colonies  at 
least,  those  who  really  desired  to  throw  off  the  Eng- 
lish rule  were  a  small  and  not  very  respectable 
minority.  The  great  mass  were  indifferent,  half- 
hearted, engrossed  with  their  private  interests  or  oc- 
cupations, prepared  to  risk  nothing  till  they  could 
clearly  foresee  the  issue  of  the  contest.  In  almost 
every  part  of  the  States — even  in  New  England  itself 
— there  were  large  bodies  of  devoted  royalists. " 

After  the  war  more  than  a  hundred  thousand,  it  is 
estimated,  of  irreconciliable  royalists  were  expelled 
from  the  colonies. 

When  General  Gage  evacuated  Boston,  more  than 
a  thousand  royalists  from  that  immediate  territory 
went  with  him  to  Halifax,  Nova  Scotia,  so  that  our 
American  grandmothers,  even  a  hundred  years  later, 
when  exasperated,  would  exclaim  against  their  tor- 
mentor, with  much  of  the  ancient  vehemence,  "You 
go  to  Halifax!" 

If  we  want  to  appreciate  Washington  and  to 
understand  his  wonderful  service  for  mankind,  we 


114       TEE  STORY  OF  WASHINGTON 

must  understand  the  difficulties  and  obstacles  he  had 
to  overcome.  The  "Spirit  of  '76"  belonged  at  first 
to  only  a  few  inspired  souls,  who  had  a  wonderful 
vision  of  human  rights  for  a  new  world.  Right  was 
might  with  them  and  their  might-right  won  the 
great  cause  as  the  immortal  "  Spirit  of  '76." 

General  Washington's  description  of  the  condi- 
tions are  vividly  portrayed  in  a  letter  to  Joseph  Reed, 
from  Cambridge,  dated  November  28,  1775 : 

"Such  a  dearth  of  public  spirit,  and  such  a  want 
of  virtue,  such  stock  jobbing  and  such  fertility  in  all 
the  low  arts  to  obtain  advantages  of  one  kind  or  an- 
other in  this  great  change  of  military  arrangement  I 
never  saw  before,  and  pray  God's  mercy  that  I  may 
never  be  witness  to  again.  What  will  be  the  end  of 
these  manceuvers  is  beyond  my  scan.  I  tremble  at 
the  prospect.  We  have  been  till  this  time  enlisting 
about  three  thousand  five  hundred  men.  To  engage 
these  I  have  been  obliged  to  allow  furloughs  as  far  as 
fifty  men  to  a  regiment,  and  the  officers,  I  am  per- 
suaded, indulge  as  many  more.  The  Connecticut 
troops  will  not  be  prevailed  upon  to  stay  longer  than 
their  term,  saving  those  who  have  enlisted  for  the 
next  campaign  and  are  mostly  on  a  furlough;  and 
such  a  mercenary  spirit  pervades  the  whole  that  I 
should  not  be  at  all  surprised  at  any  disaster  that 
may  happen.  In  short  after  the  last  of  this  month 


HOUSE  DIVIDED  AGAINST  ITSELF    115 


our  lines  will  be  so  weakened  that  the  Minute  Men 
and  Militia  must  be  called  in  for  their  defense ;  and 
these  being  under  no  kind  of  government  themselves, 
will  destroy  the  little  subordination  I  have  been  la- 
boring to  establish,  and  run  me  into  one  evil  whilst  I 
am  endeavoring  to  avoid  another ;  but  the  less  must 
be  chosen.  Could  I  have  foreseen  what  I  have  ex- 
perienced, and  am  likely  to  experience,  no  consider- 
ation upon  earth  would  have  induced  me  to  accept 
the  command.7' 

At  the  meeting  of  the  colonies  in  congress  at  Phil- 
adelphia in  1774,  George  the  Third  saw  that  it  was  a 
conquest  of  wills  and  he  exclaimed,  "The  die  is  cast, 
the  colonies  must  either  submit  or  triumph."  But 
even  when  the  British  government  was  sending  Hes- 
sian mercenaries  over  against  the  colonies,  a  thing 
regarded  as  a  supreme  outrage  by  those  opposed  to 
England,  it  was  almost  impossible  to  get  together 
enough  American  patriotism  to  adopt  a  declaration 
of  independence. 

John  Adams  says  that  a  large  section  of  Congress 
regarded  such  a  declaration  with  both  terror  and  dis- 
gust. To  those  who  have  believed  that  a  unanimous 
patriotism  made  only  a  little  severe  fighting  neces- 
sary, backed  by  some  clever  generalship,  there  can 
be  no  proper  appreciation  of  the  great  American 
achievement. 


116       TEE  STORY  OF  WASHINGTON 

Then,  as  now,  the  prosperous  did  not  want  their 
prosperity  disturbed  by  any  change.  They  didn't 
want  to  lose  their  business,  not  to  speak  of  their  lives, 
by  going  into  an  army.  But  there  had  been  a  genera- 
tion of  people  pouring  into  the  colonies  from  the 
poverty-devastations  of  English  misgovernment  in 
Scotland  and  Ireland.  They  had  never  had  any 
chance  to  protest  against  their  wrongs  in  the  old 
country,  but  fortune,  or  fate,  or  Providence,  had  ban- 
ished them  across  the  ocean  directly  into  an  oppor- 
tunity to  express  their  sentiments  with  guns,  and 
they  took  the  opportunity.  They  flocked  to  the  re- 
cruiting stations  of  Washington's  army. 

But  so  unsafe  were  business  transactions  with  the 
party  fighting  Great  Britain  that  the  revolution  was 
coming  to  the  gates  of  despair  because  of  the  impos- 
sibility of  getting  military  supplies  and  army  equip- 
ments. There  was  fast  growing  a  vision  of  collapse 
unless  there  was  received  the  encouraging  help  of  a 
foreign  power.  France  in  almost  unceasing  war  with 
England  was  the  only  hope,  and  France  could  have 
no  interest  unless  the  colonies  were  fighting  for 
separation  from  England,  instead  of  against  a  tax  on 
tea,  as  it  bore  the  appearance,  at  the  beginning,  from 
a  foreign  point  of  view.  France  wanted  to  know 
what  the  colonies  were  fighting  for.  France  wanted 
a  bill  of  particulars.  This  brought  American  inter- 


HOUSE  DIVIDED  AGAINST  ITSELF    117 

ests  to  a  crisis.  France  had  no  interest  in  a  mere 
family  fuss.  The  French  government  could  have  no 
interest  unless  it  was  for  something  that  lessened  the 
power  of  England. 

Under  the  early  troubles,  a  peace  party  among  the 
business  interests  was  fast  coming  into  power. 
Against  this  the  commoners  were  aflame  with  the  pa- 
triotic pamphlets  of  Thomas  Paine  and  Thomas  Jef- 
ferson, the  eloquence  of  Patrick  Henry,  the  states- 
manship of  John  Adams,  and  the  work  of  the  power- 
ful-minded few  who  saw  the  sublime  vision  of  Ameri- 
can freedom.  At  last  they  were  enabled  to  pass  the 
Declaration  of  Independence,  and  France  began,  at 
first  secretly  and  then  openly,  to  give  encouragement 
through  money-loans,  supplies,  and  volunteers.  Bur- 
goyne's  surrender  in  October,  1777,  showed  that 
America  could  be  successful  with  France's  help,  and 
early  in  the  next  year  France  recognized  the  inde- 
pendence of  the  colonies.  They  soon  made  the  cause 
of  America  their  own,  and  sent  over  not  only  neces- 
sary supplies  but  soldiers  and  ships.  Known  bud- 
gets of  expenses,  used  in  aid  of  the  Colonies,  exceed 
$500,000,000,  not  a  cent  of  which  was  ever  returned 
or  asked  for.  Though  there  was  the  political  interest 
to  humble  England,  yet  France  was  at  heart  a  pro- 
found lover  of  human  freedom  and  political  liberty. 
Despite  the  implacable  enemies  of  republican  govern- 


118       THE  STORY  OF  WASHINGTON 

ment  in  Europe,  France  has  successfully  kept  the 
dead-lines  across  which  "they  shall  not  pass."  The 
moral  debt  which  human  liberty  owes  to  France  can 
never  be  paid  except  as  it  is  paid  to  humanity,  and, 
to  that  social  justice,  is  dedicated  the  meaning  of 
America. 


H.     SOMETIMES  TOO  LATE  TO  MEND 

THE  English  parliament,  becoming  suddenly 
aware  of  the  growing  power  in  the  American  sub- 
jects, now  conceded  every  right  asked  for  by  the  col- 
onists, and  enacted  those  rights  into  law.  But  it 
was  too  late.  The  middle-class  mass  of  property  own- 
ers and  business  men  began  to  see  the  vision  of  an 
American  republic  and  the  tide  swelled  toward  suc- 
cess. As  the  cutting  off  of  supplies  from  the  colo- 
nies had  been  the  chief  cause  of  American  weakness, 
England  tried  to  prevent  supplies  being  sent  to 
America,  with  the  result  that  Denmark,  Sweden, 
Russia  and  Holland  declared  an  armed  neutrality 
to  enforce  their  right  to  sell  military  supplies  to 
America.  The  dispute  led  to  a  war  with  Holland 
in  1780,  so  that  by  the  close  of  that  year  Great  Brit- 
ain had  not  a  friend  on  earth  and  was  confronted 


HOUSE  DIVIDED  AGAINST  ITSELF    119 


by  the  united  armies  and  navies  of  France,  Spain, 
Holland  and  America.  At  the  same  time  there  was 
rebellion  in  India  against  the  English  rule,  insurrec- 
tions in  Ireland,  and  so  deep  the  discontent  in  Eng- 
land itself  that  a  London  mob  was  able  for  several 
days  to  make  itself  master  of  the  city.  The  English 
lost  control  of  the  sea  before  the  close  of  1780,  and 
on  October  19,  1781,  Cornwallis  surrendered  his 
army  to  Washington,  from  which  historic  hour  a 
world-champion  of  the  rights  of  man  over  the  divine 
rights  of  kings  was  born  in  the  Western  world. 

The  difficulties  which  Washington  had  encoun- 
tered and  overcome  in  Virginia  previous  to  the 
French  and  Indian  war  were  in  full  exercise 
throughout  New  England  at  the  opening  of  the  Revo- 
lutionary War.  They  could  act  together  in  small, 
free  groups  for  a  particular  object  of  their  will,  but 
to  obey  superior  officers  and  to  sacrifice  their  own 
private  judgment  to  higher  authority,  which  was  so 
necessary  in  war  and  such  a  war  as  this,  was  utterly 
repugnant  to  their  dispositions.  That  subserviency 
to  authority  was  the  very  reason  they  were  oppos- 
ing the  idea  of  taxation  without  representation,  and 
why  should  they  be  required  to  do  the  very  thing 
they  were  fighting  against  I  That  quandary  and 
query  has  been  the  puzzle  of  every  mind  unable  to 
see  the  vision  of  means  necessary  to  future  results. 


120       THE  STORY  OF  WASHINGTON 

It  is  the  blindness  always  of  the  fanatical  pacifist 
who  would  sacrifice  nothing  for  peace,  and  of  the 
non-resistent  doctrine  that  right  and  moral  law  have 
no  need  for  material  might  in  a  material  world. 

The  colonists  had  never  known  of  anything  but 
local  patriotism.  They  seemed  to  be  unable  to  dis- 
tinguish between  English  king-made  authority  and 
American  people-made  authority,  notwithstanding 
how  much  had  beren  discussed  the  relations  of  repre- 
sentation and  taxation.  That  difficulty  has  always 
existed  concerning  American  militarism.  It  almost 
defeated  Lincoln  during  the  Civil  War.  It  almost 
delivered  the  Union  to  Secession.  If  democratic 
militarism  cannot  be  different  from  dynastic  mili- 
tarism, then  American  freedom  and  human  liberty 
will  be  lost  in  the  next  American  or  world  war. 

The  colonist  would  fight  with  the  heroism  he  dis- 
played in  Indian  warfare,  but  when  the  enemy  was 
driven  away  from  his  neighborhood,  it  was  the  duty 
of  the  next  neighborhood  to  take  care  of  itself.  Be- 
sides, the  New  Englander  with  a  home  had  the  same 
idea  as  the  Virginian  soldier  twenty  years  before, 
and  this  was  that,  when  he  wanted  to  go  home,  why 
shouldn't  he !  He  was  not  a  deserter,  and  in  no  sense 
a  coward,  but  the  discipline  of  army  service  was  mere 
enslavement  and  any  compulsion  was  despotism.  To 
understand  the  making  up  of  an  efficient  army  under 


HOUSE  DIVIDED  AGAINST  ITSELF    121 

such  circumstances  is  the  only  measure  to  estimate 
the  greatness  of  Washington  and  the  debt  to  him  of 
the  liberty-loving  world. 

Curtis,  in  his  history  of  American  Commonwealth, 
says,  "  Washington  overcame  these  difficulties  by 
dint  of  a  patience  and  a  selflessness  almost  without 
parallel  in  history,  which  gradually  communicated 
itself  to  his  fellow  countrymen.  In  seven  years  he 
created  a  continental  army  which  ended  the  war  at 
Yorktown." 


III.      SELECTING  THE  LEADER  OF  LIBERTY  FOR  AMERICA 

WASHINGTON  had  to  write  many  letters,  endeavor- 
ing to  spur  up  the  really  patriotic  leaders  to  con- 
sistent work  for  the  cause.  In  his  letter  to  Joseph 
Reed  he  was  almost  in  despair  over  the  indifference 
of  people  from  whom  he  expected  the  most  patriotic 
service. 

"It  grieves  me,"  he  wrote,  "to  see  so  little  of  that 
patriotic  spirit  which  I  was  taught  to  believe  char- 
acteristic of  this  people."  But  this  did  not  mean 
that  the  so-called  "spirit  of  76"  was  not  strong 
among  them.  Washington  needed  so  much  of  the 
patriotic  spirit  that  a  little  would  not  be  any,  and, 
to  half -heal  the  wounds  of  a  friend,  was  not  very 


122       THE  STORY  OF  WASHINGTON 

friendly  to  the  cause,  nor  a  sufficient  friendship 
toward  the  needs  of  Washington's  work  for  America. 

Ten  years  later,  when  Washington  had  matured, 
through  the  mind-making  experiences  of  revolution- 
ary times,  he  wrote  to  John  Jay,  saying,  "Experi- 
ence has  taught  us  that  men  will  not  adopt  and  carry 
into  execution  measures  the  best  calculated  for  their 
own  good  without  the  intervention  of  coercive 
power."  This  meant  that  human  society  requires 
law,  and  the  right  of  law  is  devoid  of  appreciation 
or  application  unless  it  is  clothed  with  the  might  to 
keep  its  forms  and  values  true. 

Lecky  says,  "The  common  saying  that  you  cannot 
make  people  virtuous  by  law  is  a  dangerous  half- 
truth.  The  virtue  innate  in  a  people  may  be  utterly 
destroyed  by  bad  institutions,  for  'the  virtue/  as  Jay 
wrote  to  Washington,  'like  the  other  resources  of  a 
country,  can  only  be  drawn  to  a  point  by  strong  cir- 
cumstances ably  managed,  or  strong  governments 
ably  administered.'  " 

When  it  came  to  a  question  of  who  should  be  com- 
mander-in-chief  of  all  the  armies,  the  disruptions 
and  jealousies  of  the  sections  seemed  dangerously 
near  wrecking  any  united  action,  which  obviously 
must  be  fatal  to  any  independence  more  than  they 
then  had  from  Great  Britain.  The  Southern  lead- 
ers were  unanimous  for  Washington,  and,  with  the 


o> 

-3 


HOUSE  DIVIDED  AGAINST  ITSELF    123 


efficiency  of  shrewd  politicians,  supported  measures 
largely  according  to  the  pressure  they  brought  to 
bear  in  the  cause  of  having  Washington  for  the  com- 
mander-in-chief .  But  this  support  did  not  bring  to- 
gether any  antagonism,  because  it  was  not  made  by 
any  faction  of  admirers  or  supporters.  Washington 
himself,  though  present,  refused  to  lend  any  aid  to 
the  presentation  of  his  own  name. 

It  was  John  Adams,  the  whole-souled  patriot 
from  Massachusetts  who  was  the  leader  in  advocat- 
ing the  selection  of  Washington.  In  his  diary,  dur- 
ing these  consequential  times,  Adams  wrote,  "I  had 
no  hesitation  to  declare  that  I  had  but  one  gentleman 
in  my  mind  for  that  important  command,  and  that 
was  a  gentleman  from  Virginia,  who  was  among  us, 
and  very  well  known  to  us ;  a  gentleman  whose  skilled 
experience  as  an  officer,  whose  independent  fortune, 
great  talents,  and  excellent  universal  character 
would  command  the  approbation  of  all  America,  and 
unite  the  cordial  exertions  of  all  the  colonies  better 
than  any  other  person  in  the  Union." 

There  were  many  men  who  were  able  leaders,  and 
who  had  already  made  great  sacrifices  in  the  cause 
of  liberty,  who  believed  with  their  friends  that  they 
were  entitled  to  be  selected  for  the  head  of  the  Army. 
Nevertheless,  when  the  nomination  was  made,  the 
election  by  ballot  was  unanimous  for  Washington. 


124       THE  STORY  OF  WASHINGTON 

The  salary  of  Commander-in-Chief  had  been  set 
at  five  hundred  dollars  a  month,  but  Washington  in 
his  address  of  acceptance,  while  declaring  that  no  sal- 
ary could  have  been  made  large  enough  to  tempt  him 
from  the  comforts  and  business  interests  of  his  home, 
said  he  would  accept  no  salary,  but  would  keep  an  ex- 
act account  of  his  expenses,  which  they  would  no 
doubt  refund  to  him. 

" There  is  something  charming  to  me,"  said  John 
Adams,  who  became  the  second  president  of  the 
United  States,  when  writing  at  the  time  to  a  friend, 
"in  the  conduct  of  Washington,  a  gentleman  of  one 
of  the  first  fortunes  upon  the  continent,  leaving  his 
delicious  retirement,  his  family  and  friends,  sacri- 
ficing his  ease,  and  hazarding  all  in  the  cause  of  his 
country.  His  views  are  noble  and  disinterested. " 

Washington  now  wrote  to  his  half-brother,  Augus- 
tine Washington,  a  characteristic  letter. 

"I  am  now  to  bid  adieu  to  you,  and  to  every  kind 
of  domestic  ease  for  a  while.  I  am  embarked  on  a 
wide  ocean,  boundless  in  its  prospect,  and  in  which, 
perhaps,  no  safe  harbor  is  to  be  found.  I  have  been 
called  upon  by  the  unanimous  voice  of  the  Colonies  to 
take  command  of  the  Continental  army;  an  honor  I 
neither  sought  after  nor  desired,  as  I  am  thoroughly 
convinced  it  requires  great  abilities,  and  much  more 
experience  than  I  am  master  of." 


HOUSE  DIVIDED  AGAINST  ITSELF    125 


But  he  added  his  belief  that  the  Divine  Provi- 
dence, which  had  called  him  into  such  a  dangerous 
duty,  was  wisely  ordering  the  affairs  of  men,  and 
would  enable  him  in  due  course  of  time  to  perform 
all  his  tasks  justly  and  with  success. 

What  that  task  was  through  the  revolutionary  war 
can  be  appreciated  only  in  the  details  of  events  that 
require  volumes  of  description  in  telling.  One 
cannot  read  it  through  with  its  ignoble  intrigues, 
unpatriotic  dissentions,  and  dangerous  rivalries 
without  feeling  that  Washington  combined  great 
manhood,  great  leadership,  great  statesmanship  and 
great  generalship,  and  that  no  other  man  of  less  char- 
acter and  genius  than  that  could  ever  have  welded 
together  such  discordant  and  diversified  elements 
into  a  means  sufficient  to  achieve  the  independence 
and  liberty  of  America. 


CHAPTER  XIII 
LARGE  BODIES  MOVE  SLOWLY 


I.      THE  FIRST  COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF 

THERE  are  events  enough  during  the  progress  of 
the  revolutionary  war  to  give  a  complete  analysis 
of  Washington's  mind  and  character,  enough,  in- 
deed, to  make  a  large  volume  in  itself.  But  these 
incidents  are  easily  available  to  any  student  of  the 
revolutionary  war.  Of  all  his  wonderful  career,  as 
a  child  born  to  the  wealth  and  luxury  of  his  times,  as 
a  landed  proprietor  of  one  of  the  greatest  fortunes 
in  America,  as  soldier,  statesman  and  first  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States,  there  is  nowhere  on  record 
a  single  ignoble,  immoral  or  dishonorable  word  or 
deed  in  any  way  relating  to  the  principles  or  interests 
fundamental  for  his  character,  mind  and  life.  It  is 
supremely  gratifying  to  American  ideals  that 
Washington  was  in  everything  morally  worthy  of 
being  known  as  "first  in  peace,  first  in  war  and  first 

126 


LARGE  BODIES  MOVE  SLOWLY       127 

in  the  hearts  of  his  countrymen,"  standing  forth  a 
great  figure  of  American  nobility,  crowned  with  high 
title  in  being  known  as  the  ''Father  of  his  Country." 

The  army  was  anxious  to  see  their  chief  and  the 
people  were  eager  for  a  look  at  the  man  who  in- 
spired them  all  with  so  much  confidence.  Washing- 
ton's appearance  could  not  disappoint  them.  No 
more  born-commander  of  men,  at  least  in  appear- 
ance, ever  sat  in  military  uniform  upon  a  horse. 
The  emotions  of  the  people  in  those  troubulous  times 
all  went  out  to  him,  as  they  cheered  him  wherever 
he  went.  To  know  Washington  is  to  know  that  his 
feelings  responded  heartily  to  their  interests,  and 
no  doubt  were  strengthened  by  their  trust  for  the 
wonder-working  task  before  him. 

One  of  the  most  intellectual  and  charming  of  the 
cultured  women  of  New  England  was  the  wife  of 
John  Adams.  After  meeting  Washington  she  wrote 
to  her  husband,  "Dignity,  ease  and  complacency,  the 
gentleman  and  the  soldier,  look  agreeably  blended  in 
him.  Modesty  marks  every  feature  of  his  face. 
Those  lines  of  Dryden  instantly  occurred  to  me : 

*  Mark  his  ma  j  estic  fabric  I   He 's  a  temple 
Sacred  by  birth  and  built  by  hands  divine ; 
His  soul's  the  deity  that  lodges  there; 
Nor  is  the  pile  unworthy  of  the  God.' 


128       THE  STORY  OF  WASHINGTON 

As  an  incident  of  the  multitudinous  varieties  of 
problems  that  Washington  had  to  solve  may  be  men- 
tioned the  treatment  of  the  American  prisoners 
taken  by  the  British.  The  Americans  were  regarded 
as  rebels,  having  no  more  standing  in  law  than  trai- 
tors. If  the  student  looks  carefully  at  the  dates  of 
progress  in  the  freedom  of  the  colonies  and  their  for- 
mation into  a  nation,  he  will  see  that  many  years  of 
wrangle  and  debate  took  place.  Nothing  went  by 
leaps.  Opinions  grew  and  they  grew  very  slowly  and 
uncertainly.  Therefore,  when  a  crisis  came,  Wash- 
ington had  to  make  momentous  decisions  that  were 
not  only  of  farreaching  consequences,  but  that  he 
could  execute  and  that  his  people  would  sanction. 
He  was  not  a  silent  man.  He  wrote  and  spoke  much, 
thus  clearing  the  way  for  action,  and  unifying  the 
mind  of  the  people  on  the  needs  and  rights  of  the 
times. 

An  extract  from  a  letter  to  the  British  General 
Gage,  in  the  beginning  of  the  war,  shows  on  what 
grounds  Washington  demanded  the  right  treatment 
of  American  prisoners,  who  had  so  far  been  grossly 
mistreated. 

"They  suppose,"  he  wrote,  concerning  American 
prisoners,  "that  they  act  from  the  noblest  of  all  prin- 
ciples, a  love  of  freedom  and  their  country.  But 
political  principles,  I  conceive,  are  foreign  to  this 


LARGE  BODIES  MOVE  SLOWLY       129 

point.  The  obligations  arising  from  the  rights  of  hu- 
manity, and  claims  of  rank,  are  universally  binding 
and  extensive,  except  in  cases  of  retaliation. 

"My  duty  now  makes  it  necessary  to  apprise  you 
that,  for  the  future,  I  shall  regulate  all  my  conduct 
towards  those  gentlemen  who  are  or  may  be  in  our 
possession  exactly  by  the  rule  you  shall  observe 
toward  those  of  ours  now  in  your  custody." 

Though  General  Gage's  reply  was  full  of  the 
words  " criminals, "  "rebels,"  and  "hanging,"  the 
harsh  treatment  became  generally  modified  as  he  re- 
alized that  Washington  meant  what  he  said. 


H.      BIG  BUSINESS,  MONET-MAKERS  AND  PATRIOTISM 

PUBLIC  sentiment  when  not  aroused  by  immediate 
danger  gets  into  action  very  slowly,  and  especially 
if  it  is  divided  into  numerous  rival  sections  as  was 
the  case  in  the  colonies.  The  army  at  first  consisted 
of  two  extremes,  the  real  patriots  and  the  many  army 
adventurers.  It  was  an  age  of  travelling  soldiers. 
Especially  was  there  an  overwhelming  offer  from 
foreign  officers  to  go  into  service.  To  refuse  them 
looked  like  ingratitude.  It  brought  up  the  old  say- 
ing of  "looking  a  gift  horse  in  the  mouth."  But 


130       THE  STORY  OF  WASHINGTON 

the  wisdom  and  firmness  of  Washington  was  never 
put  to  better  use  than  here.  He  believed  that  Amer- 
icans should  win  the  war.  In  the  darkest  period 
he  said,  "Put  none  but  Americans  on  guard  tonight." 

In  one  of  his  letters  he  speaks  of  the  * 'hungry  ad- 
venturers," whose  endless  applications  for  com- 
mands were  one  of  his  worst  annoyances.  And,  still 
more,  many  of  these  soldiers  of  fortune  came  from 
Europe  with  great  recommendations  and  they  se- 
cured powerful  influences  in  Congress  to  force 
themselves  upon  Washington. 

The  mind  of  the  times  stood  in  great  awe  of  British 
power,  therefore  it  is  additional  credit  to  the  mind 
of  Washington  that  he  had  no  such  fear  or  awe 
toward  British  might.  Besides,  the  country  was  al- 
ways asking  impossible  things.  Congress  urged 
Washington  to  surround  the  enemy  and  cut  off  their 
supplies.  They  had  no  vision  of  Washington's  in- 
adequate means.  Therefore  enemies  arose  asserting 
they  could  do  what  Washington  was  not  doing,  and 
the  American  army  had  not  only  the  confusion  of  in- 
terests in  its  own  ranks  to  contend  with,  but  was 
between  a  contentious  congress  and  a  hardly  more 
contentious  British  army.  Washington's  methods 
now  look  so  reasonable  and  practical  that  we  wonder 
how  the  people  could  be  so  ignorant,  blind  and  ob- 
structive, but  a  century  later  than  our  time  may 


LARGE  BODIES  MOVE  SLOWLY       131 


show  us  to  be  stoning  our  prophets  and  killing  our 
saviors,  just  as  they  have  done  through  all  the  peri- 
ods of  history.  It  is  the  disastrous  tribute  that  de- 
mocracy pays  to  partisanship,  and  that  humanity  has 
always  paid  partisan  leadership. 

The  malignant  intrigues  that  tried  to  take  advan- 
tage of  the  slow  progress  of  the  war,  and  have  hun- 
gry rivals  put  into  Washington's  place,  are  matters 
of  special  history.  But  Washington  met  those  ill- 
begotten  schemes  with  the  cold  indifference  and  calm 
dignity  which  were  the  unfailing  measures  of  his  life 
and  character.  Though  he  was  sensitive,  and  high- 
spirited,  he  would  not  let  that  trait  in  his  nature 
work  to  the  advantage  of  his  enemies.  They  worked 
up  slights  and  insults  all  around  him,  but  he  never 
replied  unless  he  dealt  a  stinging  blow,  or  showed 
up  the  treacherous  character  of  their  work.  Much 
of  the  rivalry  developed  against  Washington  was 
of  sectional  prejudices,  but  the  real  intelligence  and 
patriotism  of  the  colonies  would  have  nothing  to  do 
with  it.  In  all  those  schemes  to  injure  Washington 
we  see  the  same  method  in  politics  used  on  up  to 
the  present  time.  Newspapers  and  speakers  distort 
the  achievements  of  political  opponents  into  the  most 
fanatical  accusations,  and  bewilder  the  voter  with 
charges  and  countercharges  till  he  feels  as  if  he  were 
between  the  firing  lines  of  two  fighting  armies,  for 


132       THE  STORY  OF  WASHINGTON 

one  or  the  other  of  which  he  must  cast  his  votes. 
But  " belonging  to  a  party"  is  happily  not  the  honor 
it  once  was.  The  good  of  the  country  is  found  to  be, 
not  so  much  in  the  political  platform  of  parties  but 
in  the  character  of  men,  harmonizing  with  the  rights 
of  man.  It  is  thus  that  the  congressional  resolutions 
and  the  party  wrangling  of  Washington's  time,  as  in 
that  of  Lincoln,  are  wholly  discredited  in  estimating 
the  lives  of  those  great  leaders  of  the  American  mind. 
In  its  full  view,  the  American  ideal  is  seen  to  be  that 
the  man  or  woman  who  presides  decently  and  right- 
eously over  the  humanity  of  self  or  family  or  group 
is  president  of  the  human  world. 

The  ignorant  criticism  of  the  time  is  well  illus- 
trated from  the  dark  winter  days  of  Valley  Forge. 
There,  so  little  had  Congress  done  for  the  army, 
the  soldiers  were  literally  starving.  Most  of  them 
were  barefoot,  and  so  poorly  provided  that  they  had 
to  sit  up  all  night  close  to  their  camp-fire  in  order  to 
keep  from  freezing.  And  yet  the  legislature  of  Penn- 
sylvania issued  a  stern  remonstrance  against  their 
going  into  winter  quarters.  Washington  must  keep 
to  the  open  field  and  be  in  continual  operation  against 
the  well-fed,  thoroughly  trained  and  highly  equipped 
British  troops. 

Washington  closed  a  letter  to  Congress,  saying,  in 
referring  to  those  who  thus  condemned  him,  "They 


LARGE  BODIES  MOVE  SLOWLY       133 

seem  to  have  little  feeling  for  the  naked  and  dis- 
tressed soldiers.  I  feel  superabundantly  for  them, 
and  from  my  soul  I  pity  those  miseries  which  it  is 
neither  in  my  power  to  relieve  nor  prevent." 

As  in  our  own  times,  big  business  found  opportu- 
nity to  fatten  itself  on  the  needs  of  the  people.  The 
greatness  of  Washington  is  in  startling  evidence 
when  it  is  seen  how  he  not  only  had  to  conduct  a 
war  and  guide  an  unprovided  army  split  up  into  rival 
sections,  but  he  had  to  be  statesman  and  diplomat 
enough  to  manage  a  menagerie  of  ideas  ranging 
through  the  congressional  sessions  like  animals 
broken  loose  in  a  circus.  Each  one  was  trying  to  per- 
form something  that  was  in  effect  worse  than  noth- 
ing. The  representatives  of  the  people  gathered  in 
the  American  capital  have  often  since  that  time  re- 
peated the  original  show. 


m.      THE  STRONG  MIND  FOR  GREAT  NEEDS 

THE  union  that  is  strength  is  always  slow  in  the 
making.  Minds  get  together  slowly  wherever  there 
is  freedom  in  thinking  for  thought-out  individual  re- 
sponsibility. 

In  writing  to  Benjamin  Harrison,  Washington 


134       THE  STORY  OF  WASHINGTON 

pointed  out  how  detrimental  it  was  for  each  colony 
to  be  centering  itself  on  its  own  prosperity.  To 
Colonel  Joseph  Eeed,  December,  1778,  he  wrote  more 
freely  of  the  "monopolizers,  forestallers,  and  engros- 
sers" who  were  "murderers  of  our  cause. " 

"It  is  much  to  be  lamented, "  he  said,  "that  each 
state,  long  ere  this,  has  not  hunted  them  down  as 
pests  to  society  and  the  greatest  enemies  we  have  to 
the  happiness  of  America.  I  would  to  God  that 
some  one  of  the  most  atrocious  in  each  state  was  hung 
in  gibbets  upon  a  gallows  five  times  as  high  as  the  one 
prepared  by  Haman.  No  punishment,  in  my  opin- 
ion, is  too  great  for  the  man  who  can  build  his  great- 
ness upon  his  country's  ruin." 

This  shows  how  Washington  loathed  meanness  and 
treachery  and  how  he  minced  no  words  in  saying  so. 
Only  such  men  are  leaders  of  men.  No  man  who 
believes  anything  and  is  afraid  to  say  it  has  a  place 
in  the  political  meaning  of  America. 

Benjamin  Harrison,  full  of  the  same  righteous  re- 
sentment, writes  at  the  time,  "If  I  were  to  be  called 
upon  to  draw  a  picture  of  the  times  and  of  men,  from 
what  I  have  seen,  heard,  and  in  part  know,  I  should 
in  one  word  say  that  idleness,  dissipation,  and  ex- 
travagance seem  to  have  laid  fast  hold  of  most  of 
them ;  that  speculation,  peculation,  and  an  insatiable 
thirst  for  riches  seem  to  have  got  the  better  of  every 


LARGE  BODIES  MOVE  SLOWLY       135 


other  consideration,  and  almost  every  order  of  men ; 
that  party  disputes  and  personal  quarrels  are  the 
great  business  of  the  day." 

And  so,  to  one  patriot  and  then  to  another,  Wash- 
ington appealed  for  help  to  save  the  wasting  fortunes 
of  his  country. 

To  George  Mason  he  wrote  that  we  are  "fast  verg- 
ing to  destruction. ' '  The  widespread  demoralization 
of  both  army  and  people,  the  scramble  for  profit,  and 
the  unpatriotic  plunder  of  vital  interests  at  last  be- 
came so  evident  under  Washington's  ringing  denun- 
ciations that  the  real  patriots  of  the  country  awoke 
to  the  peril.  Lafayette  and  the  two  Morrises  took 
the  lead  in  their  respective  fields  of  work.  Writers 
and  speakers  took  up  the  task  of  arousing  the  people 
and  their  officers  in  Congress,  and  at  last  the  tide 
turned.  The  strong  minds  at  last  prevailed  in  unit- 
ing the  people  into  a  reliable  force  for  the  great 
need,  and  the  American  republic  became  an  acknowl- 
edged part  of  the  humanity  of  the  earth. 


CHAPTER   XIV 

TURNING  REVOLUTION  THROUGH  FREE- 
DOM INTO  GOVERNMENT 


I.      SEEKING  RETIREMENT  FOR  LIFE  IN  THE  PEACE  OF  A 
COUNTRY  HOME 

THE  Revolutionary  war  had  extended  over  a 
period  of  eight  years,  through  almost  unparalleled 
discouragements  and  intolerable  trials  of  faith  and 
purpose,  when  the  British  troops  were  finally  with- 
drawn from  American  soil.  The  differences  in  the 
appearances  of  the  British  and  American  troops  are 
described  by  an  American  lady  living  in  New  York, 
while  the  British  held  possession  there.  She  wrote, 
"We  had  been  accustomed  for  a  long  time  to  the  mili- 
tary display  in  all  the  finish  and  finery  of  garrison 
life;  the  troops  just  leaving  us  were  as  if  equipped 
for  show,  and  with  their  scarlet  uniforms  and  bur- 
nished arms  made  a  brilliant  display.  The  troops 

136 


REVOLUTION  INTO  GOVERNMENT    137 

that  marched  in,  on  the  contrary,  were  ill-clad  and 
weatherbeaten,  and  made  a  forlorn  appearance ;  but 
then  they  were  our  troops,  and,  as  I  looked  at  them 
and  thought  of  all  they  had  done  and  suffered  for 
us,  my  heart  and  my  eyes  were  full,  and  I  admired 
and  gloried  in  them  the  more,  because  they  were 
weatherbeaten  and  forlorn." 

In  a  letter  to  Baron  Steuben,  written  on  the  23rd 
of  December,  1783,  Washington  concludes  as  follows, 
"This  is  the  last  letter  I  shall  write  while  I  continue 
in  the  service  of  my  country.  The  hour  of  my  resig- 
nation is  fixed  at  twelve  today,  after  which  I  shall 
become  a  private  citizen  on  the  banks  of  the  Poto- 
mac." 

At  noon  on  that  memorable  day  the  Hall  of  Con- 
gress was  filled  with  a  notable  assemblage  of  promi- 
nent people.  The  members  of  Congress  remained 
seated  with  their  hats  on,  as  was  the  custom  of  the 
times,  but  the  spectators  were  standing  with  uncov- 
ered heads  when  Washington,  conducted  by  the  sec- 
retary of  Congress,  entered  and  was  given  a  seat  ap- 
pointed for  him. 

The  President  of  Congress  arose,  and,  after  stat- 
ing the  purpose  of  the  meeting  at  that  hour,  said  to 
Washington,  "The  United  States  in  Congress  assem- 
bled are  now  prepared  to  receive  your  communica- 
tion." 


138       THE  STORY  OF  WASHINGTON 

Washington  arose  and  delivered  a  short  address, 
at  the  close  of  which  he  said,  "I  consider  it  an  indis- 
pensable duty  to  close  this  last  solemn  act  of  my  of- 
ficial life  by  commending  the  interests  of  our  dearest 
country  to  the  protection  of  Almighty  God;  and 
those  who  have  the  superintendence  of  them  to  His 
holy  keeping.  Having  now  finished  the  work  as- 
signed to  me,  I  retire  from  the  great  theatre  of  ac- 
tion; and,  bidding  an  affectionate  farewell  to  this 
august  body,  under  whose  orders  I  have  long  acted,  I 
here  offer  my  commission,  and  take  my  leave  of  all 
the  employments  of  public  life." 

A  writer  who  was  present,  speaking  of  this  scene, 
says,  "Few  tragedies  ever  drew  so  many  tears  from 
so  many  beautiful  eyes  as  the  moving  manner  in 
which  his  Excellency  took  his  final  leave  of  Con- 
gress." 

The  President  of  Congress  replied  to  his  address, 
and,  after  reciting  the  wisdom  and  valor  with  which 
Washington  had  accomplished  the  great  task  as- 
signed him,  said,  "You  retire  from  the  theatre  of  ac- 
tion with  the  blessings  of  your  fellow  citizens;  but 
the  glory  of  your  virtues  will  not  terminate  with  your 
military  command;  it  will  continue  to  animate  re- 
mote ages." 

Washington  arrived  at  Mount  Vernon  on  Christ- 
mas eve,  where  the  home-coming  was  duly  celebrated 


REVOLUTION  INTO  GOVERNMENT    139 

as  could  be  done  only  in  the  colonial  plantation  days. 

"The  scene  is  at  last  closed,"  he  wrote  to  his 
friend,  Governor  Clinton  of  New  York.  "I  feel  my- 
self eased  of  a  load  of  public  care.  I  hope  to  spend 
the  remainder  of  my  days  in  cultivating  the  affec- 
tions of  good  men,  and  in  the  practice  of  domestic 
virtues." 

How  little  Washington  or  his  friends  knew  of  the 
future !  A  task  and  a  responsibility  of  no  less  im- 
portance than  the  conduct  of  the  Revolutionary  war 
was  yet  to  devolve  upon  him.  The  repose  of  a  soldier 
had  to  give  way  to  the  mind- work  of  a  great  states- 
man. 

In  a  letter  to  that  great  friend  of  America,  with- 
out whose  aid  there  could  hardly  have  been  a  free 
America,  General  Lafayette,  Washington  wrote, 
"Free  from  the  bustle  of  a  camp  and  the  busy  scenes 
of  public  life  I  am  solacing  myself  with  those  tran- 
quil enjoyments  which  the  soldier,  who  is  ever  in 
pursuit  of  fame ;  the  statesman,  whose  watchful  days 
and  sleepless  nights  are  spent  in  devising  schemes 
to  promote  the  welfare  of  his  own,  perhaps  the  ruin 
of  other  countries, — as  if  this  globe  were  insufficient 
for  us  all ;  and  the  courtier,  who  is  always  watching 
the  countenance  of  his  prince  in  hopes  of  catching 
a  gracious  smile,  can  have  very  little  conception." 

Later,  in  writing  to  the  Marchioness  de  Lafayette, 


140       THE  STORY  OF  WASHINGTON 

inviting  her  to  visit  America,  where  her  husband  had 
earned  such  glory  and  where  everybody  lovec).  and 
admired  him,  he  gave  a  charming  picture  of  the  sim- 
plicity of  his  life. 

"I  am  now  enjoying  domestic  ease  under  the 
shadow  of  my  own  vine  and  fig  tree,  in  a  small  villa, 
with  the  implements  of  husbandry  and  lambkins 
about  me.  Come,  then,  let  me  entreat  you,  and  call 
my  cottage  your  own ;  for  your  own  doors  do  not  open 
to  you  with  more  readiness  than  mine  would.  You 
will  see  the  plain  manner  in  which  we  live,  and  meet 
the  rustic  civility;  and  you  shall  taste  the  simplicity 
of  rural  life.  It  will  diversify  the  scene,  and  may 
give  you  a  higher  relish  for  the  gayeties  of  the  court 
when  you  return  to  Versailles." 


H.      FREEDOM  AND  THE  WRANGLE  FOR  PERSONAL  GAIN 

KNOWING  that  Washington  would  be  at  continual 
expense  to  entertain  distinguished  guests  who  would 
come  to  see  him,  Congress  tried  to  grant  him  a  re- 
ward for  his  distinguished  services,  but  he  had 
served  his  country  without  pay  and  he  refused.  In 
the  meanwhile,  the  hospitality  of  "Washington  was 


REVOLUTION  INTO  GOVERNMENT    141 

taxed  to  the  utmost,  and  his  time  was  much  taken  up 
in  important  conferences  over  political  affairs.  The 
country  was  being  governed  by  Congress  under  the 
Articles  of  Confederation  which  then  bound  the 
states,  but  probably  with  less  efficiency  than  thirteen 
horses  in  a  single  rein  and  rope  harness  to  draw  a 
rattling,  curtain-flapping  carriage.  The  old  state 
patriotisms  were  revived  and  with  them  the  rivalries 
and  jealousies  of  political  sections.  Whatever  one 
state  wanted  seemed  to  be  the  signal  for  its  neighbor 
to  want  something  else.  The  United  States  were 
indeed  plural  with  a  vengeance!  "E  Pluribus 
Unum"  that  had  so  laboriously  and  valiantly  come 
true,  as  meaning  one  out  of  many,  in  war,  had 
changed  about  to  its  first  condition  and  was  again 
many  out  of  one. 

In  1786,  in  a  letter  to  General  Knox,  Washington 
wrote,  "I  feel,  my  dear  General  Knox,  infinitely 
more  than  I  can  express  to  you  for  the  disorders 
which  have  arisen  in  these  states.  Good  God!  who, 
besides  a  Tory,  could  have  foreseen,  or  a  Briton  pre- 
dicted them?  I  do  assure  you  that,  even  at  this  mo- 
ment, when  I  reflect  upon  the  present  prospect  of 
affairs,  it  seems  to  me  to  be  like  the  vision  of  a  dream. 
After  what  I  have  seen,  or  rather  what  I  have  heard, 
I  shall  be  surprised  at  nothing;  for,  if  three  years 
since,  any  person  had  told  me  that  there  would  have 


142       THE  STORY  OF  WASHINGTON 

been  such  a  formidable  rebellion  as  exists  at  this  day 
against  the  laws  and  constitution  of  our  own  making, 
I  should  have  thought  him  a  bedlamite,  a  fit  subject 
for  a  mad-house." 

He  wrote  to  James  Madison,  saying,  "How  mel- 
ancholy is  the  reflection  that  in  so  short  a  time  we 
should  have  made  such  large  strides  toward  fulfill- 
ing the  predictions  of  our  transatlantic  foes,  who 
said,  '  Leave  them  to  themselves  and  their  govern- 
ment will  soon  dissolve '  ?  Will  not  the  wise  and  good 
strive  hard  to  avert  this  evil?" 

The  only  remedy  which  "the  wise  and  good"  could 
use  to  avert  the  calamity  of  having  thirteen  feeble 
little  nations  at  war  with  one  another  was  to  sup- 
plant the  "Articles  of  Confederation"  with  a  Fed- 
eral Constitution,  and,  at  last,  this  was  accomplished, 
with  so  many  compromises  and  concessions  to  so- 
called  "state  rights"  that  it  required  a  frightful  four 
years'  civil  war  to  establish  the  meaning  of  the  Fed- 
eral Constitution,  so  that  the  United  States  gram- 
marians and  politicians  could  agree  to  say  the  United 
States  "is"  instead  of  saying  that  the  United  States 
"are." 

With  the  adoption  of  the  Federal  Constitution,  it 
was  provided  that  electors  should  be  chosen  whose 
duty  it  was  to  select  a  president  for  the  United 
States. 


REVOLUTION  INTO  GOVERNMENT    143 

There  could  be  but  one  man  seriously  considered. 
The  landed  gentleman  who  had  become  a  soldier  and 
won  liberty  for  the  Western  world  was  soon  seen 
to  be  destined,  by  the  nation  he  had  made,  to  be  its 
first  president,  and  henceforth  by  nature,  if  not  by 
the  providence  of  God,  to  be  statesman,  and  the 
" First  Citizen  of  America."  Accordingly,  George 
Washington  was  chosen  first  president  of  the  West- 
ern republic,  to  begin  a  term  of  four  years  from  the 
fourth  of  March,  1789. 


HI.      LAYING  THE  FOUNDATIONS  OF  LIBERTY   AND  LAW 

THROUGH  the  desperate  eight  years  of  war,  in 
which  the  devastations  of  the  British  could  hardly 
be  called  worse  than  the  wrangling  differences  of 
opinion  and  sordid  interests  among  the  colonies, 
Washington  had  conserved  and  guided  the  struggle 
for  American  liberty,  so  that,  at  the  close  of  the  war, 
with  the  disembarkation  for  Halifax  of  troops,  roy- 
alists and  tories,  there  was  a  unanimous  voice  of  har- 
mony for  a  new  America. 

Then  came  the  divisions  under  the  rivalry  of  the 
colonies  as  a  loose  confederation  of  separate  repub- 
lics. After  that  Washington  was  again  at  the  head 


144       THE  STORY  OF  WASHINGTON 

of  American  interests  and  for  another  eight  years. 
It  was  a  period  of  reconstruction.  The  opportunity 
to  have  a  new  nation,  that  human  beings  might  have 
a  place  of  freedom  in  the  sun,  was  supplied  by  the 
eight  years  of  revolutionary  struggle,  but  the  founda- 
tions for  that  nation  were  not  laid  firmly  until  there 
were  eight  years '  labor  upon  the  Constitutional  form 
of  government  under  Washington. 

Probably  no  man,  with  the  exception  of  Lincoln, 
has  been  so  loved  and  so  hated,  or  ever  will  be  in 
America,  as  Washington.  It  is  the  most  pathetic 
thing  in  all  the  weakness  of  intelligence,  or  rather 
the  strength  of  prejudice,  that  the  world  always 
hates,  and  sometimes  kills,  its  benefactors,  its  friends 
and  saviors. 

But  somehow,  with  all  the  storm  and  stress  of 
things,  notwithstanding  the  hate  and  revenge  of  dis- 
appointed greed,  the  rights  of  life  are  carried  on, 
and  the  values  of  humanity  prevail. 

The  time  for  the  third  election  of  a  president  was 
drawing  near.  All  the  malignant  virulence  possible 
to  destroy  the  name  and  services  of  Washington  were 
coming  into  use.  He  was  accused  of  every  public 
evil  and  private  unfitness  under  the  sun.  And  yet 
there  is  hardly  any  doubt  worth  consideration  that 
he  could  have  been  elected  for  the  third  term  if  he 
had  desired  it.  But  he  had  done  his  share  of  the 


REVOLUTION  INTO  GOVERNMENT    145 

work  of  the  world.  He  saw  that  his  example  would 
be  used  as  a  precedent  for  the  ambitions  of  future 
politicians.  There  must  be  a  reasonable  time  limit 
even  to  the  restricted  governing  powers  of  a  presi- 
dent. He  declined  to  serve  more  than  two  terms. 
Only  once  since  then  has  there  been  an  organized  at- 
tempt to  break  that  precedent.  The  politicians  tried 
their  utmost  means  to  give  General  Grant  a  third 
term,  but  the  hostility  of  the  nation  against  the  dan- 
ger of  such  prolonged  power  at  last  prevailed  and 
the  attempt  was  defeated,  probably  never  to  be  suc- 
cessful. 

Washington's  farewell  address  on  retiring  from 
the  presidency  has  ever  remained  a  beacon-light  for 
the  guidance  of  American  views  of  American  gov- 
ernment, especially  in  its  relation  with  foreign  na- 
tions. 

The  reply  of  the  House  of  Representatives  gave 
strong  praise  for  the  wisdom,  firmness,  moderation 
and  magnanimity  with  which  he  had  guided  the  af- 
fairs of  his  country.  But  the  kicker  was  there  and 
his  voice  was  heard.  A  prominent  representative 
from  Virginia  was  disgusted  with  any  praise  of 
Washington's  wisdom  and  firmness.  He  raised  his 
voice  in  the  halls  of  Congress  and  put  himself  on 
historical  record  as  especially  opposed  to  giving 
Washington  any  praise  for  the  administration  of 


146       THE  STORY  OF  WASHINGTON 

foreign  affairs.  He  declared  that  "the  weakness  and 
feeble  judgment  of  Washington  in  our  foreign  re- 
lations" has  brought  us  under  "the  contempt  of  for- 
eign nations,"  and  had  conducted  our  country  to 
"the  verge  of  a  greater  calamity  than  had  ever  been 
threatened  before  in  our  history."  That  patriotic 
scare  sounds  strangely  like  the  calamity  prophecies 
of  politicians  against  every  president  in  every  na- 
tional crisis.  In  such  cases  it  is  well  to  remember 
that  political  partisans  are  not  thus  qualified  to  be 
American  patriots.  They  are  special  pleaders  for 
their  own  particular  party  greed. 

Twelve  other  members  believed  as  this  one  from 
Virginia.  They  would  much  rather  have  censured 
Washington  for  weakness  than  to  have  praised  him 
for  strength.  Among  these  thirteen  partisans  was 
a  young  man  from  Tennessee  named  Andrew  Jack- 
son, who  afterward  became  one  of  the  famous  Presi- 
dents. 

These  violent  differences  of  opinion  and  the  vicious 
personal  attacks  on  motives,  attributed  each  to  each, 
has  been  one  of  the  pitiable  signs  of  injustice  and 
incompetency  in  American  politics.  Time  after 
time,  as  the  presidential  campaigns  arrive,  the  fist- 
like  will  of  each  side  is  thrust  into  the  other 's  faces, 
as  those  "belonging"  to  a  party  fight  to  get  votes  for 
the  party  candidate,  not  for  a  patriotic  cause.  In 


Washington  Statue  in  United  States  Capitol,  Washington,  D. 


REVOLUTION  INTO  GOVERNMENT    147 


times  of  great  national  peril,  whether  in  times  of 
war  at  home  or  abroad,  the  president  who  preserves, 
as  Washington  did,  the  rights  of  his  country  in  con- 
formity to  the  rights  of  man,  which  is  the  only  pos- 
sible rights  of  either,  is  hated  by  the  extremists  on 
both  sides.  They  both  call  him  weak,  and,  therefore, 
though  hating  each  other,  unite  to  defeat  the  man 
who  would  not  lead  his  country  into  taking  up  with 
their  special  interests.  But,  fortunately,  we  some- 
times have  presidents  with  mind,  patriotism  and 
character  greater  than  any  party.  Most  hopefully, 
there  are  increasingly  greater  numbers  who  belong 
to  their  country  instead  of  to  a  party,  and  who  elect 
human  principles  to  rule  and  to  reign  over  us  rather 
than  the  ring-managers  of  prejudice  and  partisan- 
ship known  as  "  parties. "  Presently  there  will  be 
enough  independent  thinking  for  any  one  to  consider 
it  as  unpatriotic  to  belong  to  a  " party"  as  to  belong 
to  any  other  political  fragment,  clique,  or  social 
group,  presuming  to  dictate  what  is  weakness  and 
what  is  strength  for  the  individual  mind  as  its  only 
choice  in  patriotism  and  Americanism.  America, 
composed  of  every  element  of  humanity  from  every 
part  of  the  earth,  is  the  strongest  nation  of  all  time, 
and  capable  of  being  the  clearest  and  most  just  for 
the  freedom  of  the  world.  Here  we  strive  for  the 
peace  of  freedom  in  law.  We  war  only  against  war. 


148       THE  STORY  OF  WASHINGTON 

American  intelligence  and  mercy  are  rapidly  devising 
ways  to  eliminate  the  various  forms  of  enslavement, 
dissentions  and  divisions  that  weaken  American 
civilization,  so  that  democracy  may  be  safe  in  itself. 
In  the  great  European  war,  President  Wilson  an- 
nounced the  purpose  of  the  United  States  to  be  for 
the  right  that  is  greater  than  peace,  in  which  the 
world  must  be  made  safe  for  democracy.  And  so, 
humanity  gains  "a  place  in  the  sun"  and  the  kingdom 
of  heaven  is  among  us.  For  the  sake  of  peace  on 
earth,  America  must  be  strong  in  the  might  of  right, 
and  be  willing  and  ready  to  save  to  the  uttermost. 
America  is  president  of  the  peace-nations  of  the  earth 
because  it  alone  is  federated  upon  the  principles  of 
human  justice,  eternal  and  universal. 

France  and  America,  in  the  name  of  liberty,  will 
be  forever  crowned  together  in  the  praise  of  human 
history.  The  mutual  friendship  that  existed  during 
Washington's  presidency  is  illustrated  by  a  toast 
drunk  at  a  banquet  of  French  and  Americans  in  New 
York,  February  22,  1795 : 

"To  the  President  of  the  United  States:  May  the 
day  that  gave  him  birth  mark  an  epoch  in  the  annals 
of  liberty  I 

"To  the  French  Republic:  May  she  triumph  over 
her  enemies  and  obtain  the  tranquillity  of  peace 
founded  upon  justice  and  reason! 


REVOLUTION  INTO  GOVERNMENT    149 

"To  the  memory  of  the  heroes  of  all  nations  who 
have  gloriously  fallen  for  the  defense  of  the  rights  of 
man!" 

Friends  and  allies  of  France  have  changed  during 
the  tumultuous  years,  but,  republic  to  republic, 
France  and  the  United  States  still  pledge  fealty  to 
liberty,  justice  and  reason  and  do  honor  to  the  heroic 
defenders  of  the  rights  of  man  among  all  nations. 


CHAPTER  XV 
THE  PEACE  OF  HOME  AT  LAST 


I.      SORROW  FOR  THE  DEPARTED  SCENES  AROUND  MOUNT 

VERNON 

AT  the  close  of  his  term  of  office,  March  4,  1797, 
Washington  retired  to  his  home  at  Mount  Vernon 
loved  by  all  the  understanding  world. 

In  a  letter  to  Mrs.  S.  Fairfax,  then  in  England,  he 
wrote,  "It  is  a  matter  of  sore  regret  when  I  cast 
my  eyes  toward  Belvoir,  which  I  often  do,  to  reflect 
that  the  former  inhabitants  of  it,  with  whom  we 
lived  in  such  harmony  and  friendship,  no  longer  re- 
side there,  and  the  ruins  only  can  be  viewed  as  the 
mementoes  of  former  pleasures.7' 

The  home  interest  of  Washington  can  be  seen  in 
a  letter  he  wrote  to  Miss  Nelly  Custis,  a  granddaugh- 
ter of  his  wife.  Her  father  had  died  when  she  was  a 
child,  and  Washington,  having  no  children,  had 

150 


PEACE  OF  HOME  AT  LAST  151 

adopted  Nelly  and  brought  her  up  in  his  family.  She 
was  of  a  beautiful  nature  and  was  much  beloved  by 
Washington. 

She  appears  to  have  had  some  very  decided  social 
notions,  and  one  of  these  was,  as  she  expressed  it, 
"a  perfect  apathy  toward  the  youth  of  the  present 
day,"  and  a  determination  never  to  give  herself  "a 
moment's  uneasiness  on  account  of  any  of  them." 

That  was  perhaps  the  rather  high-sounding  notion 
that  romantic  young  folks  sometimes  acquire  of  in- 
dependence from  usual  life  and  of  superiority  to 
their  associates.  Evidently  Washington  did  not  re- 
gard her  resolution  with  any  grave  alarm.  He  per- 
haps knew  the  ancient  privilege  allowing  women  to 
change  their  minds.  Nevertheless,  it  was  worthy  of 
his  experienced  consideration,  at  least  against  let- 
ting too  many  know  her  "  irrevocable  determina- 
tion" because,  when  she  did  change,  as  was  doubt- 
less inevitable,  it  should  not  bear  any  likelihood  of 
being  embarrassing. 

"Men  and  women,"  he  wrote  her,  "feel  the  same 
inclination  toward  each  other  now  that  they  always 
have  done,  and  which  they  will  continue  to  do  until 
there  is  a  new  order  of  things;  and  you,  as  others 
have  done,  may  find  that  the  passions  of  your  sex  are 
easier  raised  than  allayed.  Do  not,  therefore,  boast 
too  soon  nor  too  strong  of  your  insensibility. 


152       THE  STORY  OF  WASHINGTON 

"Love  is  said  to  be  an  involuntary  passion,  and 
it  is  therefore  contended  that  it  cannot  be  resisted. 
This  is  true  in  part  only,  for,  like  all  things  else, 
when  nourished  and  supplied  plentifully  with  ali- 
ment, it  is  rapid  in  its  progress ;  but  let  these  be  with- 
drawn, and  it  may  be  stifled  in  its  birth  or  much 
stinted  in  its  growth. 

"Although  we  cannot  avoid  first  impressions,  we 
may  assuredly  place  them  under  guard. 

"When  the  fire  is  begining  to  kindle,  and  your 
heart  growing  warm,  propound  these  questions  to  it : 
Who  is  this  invader  ?  Have  I  a  competent  knowledge 
of  him?  Is  he  a  man  of  good  character?  A  man 
of  sense?  For,  be  assured,  a  sensible  woman  can 
never  be  happy  with  a  fool.  What  has  been  his  walk 
in  life  ?  Is  he  one  to  whom  my  friends  can  have  no 
reasonable  objection? 

"If  all  these  interrogations  can  be  satisfactorily 
answered,  there  will  remain  but  one  more  to  be  asked. 
That,  however,  is  an  important  one.  Have  I  suf- 
ficient ground  to  conclude  that  his  affections  are  en- 
gaged by  me  ?  Without  this  the  heart  of  sensibility 
will  struggle  against  a  passion  that  is  not  recipro- 
cated." 

Sure  enough,  it  was  but  a  short  time  until  romance 
came  to  Mount  Vernon,  and  Miss  Nelly  changed  her 
mind  very  promptly.  Lawrence  Lewis  arrived,  the 


PEACE  OF  HOME  AT  LAST  153 

clouds  of  doubt  vanished,  and  the  love-bells  were 
set  to  ringing  until  the  wedding-bells  took  up  the 
melody  that  passed  on  into  the  music  of  the  spheres. 


H.      CROWNED  IN  THE  FULLNESS  OF  TIME 
1799 

THE  beginning  of  the  year  1799  was  full  of  the 
romantic  happiness  of  immortal  youth  for  the  house- 
hold of  Washington,  but  the  close  of  the  year  brought 
to  an  end  the  career  of  the  first  great  American.  On 
the  twelfth  of  December  he  rode  as  usual  around  the 
estate  at  Mount  Yernon,  and  was  caught  in  a  sleety 
rain.  From  this  he  developed  acute  laryngitis  and 
died  on  the  night  of  the  fourteenth.  He  said,  "I  die 
hard  but  I  am  not  afraid  to  go,"  and  his  last  words 
were,  "  Tis  well." 

His  loved  ones  were  around  him  and  his  last  look 
was  lovingly  upon  them.  The  doctor  saw  his  coun- 
tenance change  in  death.  He  put  his  hands  over  the 
eyes  out  of  which  the  light  had  forever  gone,  and  one 
of  the  noblest  souls  of  the  earth  passed  away.  There 
was  not  a  struggle  or  a  sigh. 

Mrs.  Washington  was  sitting  at  the  foot  of  the  bed, 
and  she  asked  bravely,  "Is  he  gone?" 


The  doctor  could  not  speak,  but  he  held  up  his 
hand  as  a  sign  that  the  spirit  of  their  beloved  was 
no  longer  there. 

"  'Tis  well,"  she  said,  repeating  his  last  words. 
"All  is  now  over;  I  shall  soon  follow  him;  I  have  no 
more  trials  to  pass  through." 

The  tributes  of  America  and  the  world  to  his  honor 
and  his  name  may  be  noted  in  the  words  of  Lord 
Brougham,  an  eminent  British  statesman,  who  re- 
flected the  feeling  of  the  nation  against  which  he  had 
waged  a  successful  war:  "It  will  be  the  duty  of  the 
historian,  and  the  sage  of  all  nations,"  he  said,  "to 
let  no  occasion  pass  of  commemorating  this  illustri- 
ous man,  and,  until  time  shall  be  no  more,  will  a 
test  of  the  progress  which  our  race  has  made  in  wis- 
dom and  virtue  be  derived  from  the  veneration  paid 
to  the  immortal  name  of  Washington." 

The  great  nations  having  any  sort  of  democratic 
ideal  fully  recognized  the  fact  that  in  his  death  had 
passed  away  one  of  the  great  men  of  the  earth.  The 
English  Channel  fleet  lowered  .their  ships'  flags  at 
half-mast  in  token  of  respect,  and  in  the  land  of  Na- 
poleon, who  was  then  master  of  France,  there  was 
crepe  draped  about  all  their  standards.  Tallyrand, 
the  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs,  and  one  of  the  great- 
est orators  and  statesmen,  prepared  a  report  to  the 
French  government  in  which  he  said:  "A  nation 


PEACE  OF  HOME  AT  LAST  155 

which  some  day  will  be  a  great  nation,  and  which  to- 
day is  the  wisest  and  happiest  on  the  face  of  the 
earth,  weeps  at  the  bier  of  a  man  whose  courage  and 
genius  contributed  most  to  free  it  from  bondage  and 
elevated  it  to  the  rank  of  an  independent  and  sov- 
ereign power.  The  regrets  caused  by  the  death  of 
this  great  man,  the  memories  aroused  by  these  re- 
grets, and  a  proper  veneration  for  all  that  is  held 
dear  and  sacred  by  mankind,  impel  us  to  give  expres- 
sion to  our  sentiments  by  taking  part  in  an  event 
which  deprives  the  world  of  one  of  its  brightest  orna- 
ments, and  removes  to  the  realm  of  history  one  of 
the  noblest  lives  that  ever  honored  the  human  race. 
"His  own  country  now  honors  his  memory  with 
funeral  ceremonies,  having  lost  a  citizen  whose  pub- 
lic actions  and  unassuming  grandeur  in  private  life 
were  a  living  example  of  courage,  wisdom  and  un- 
selfishness; and  France,  which  from  the  dawn  of 
American  Revolution  hailed  with  hope  a  nation, 
hitherto  unknown,  that  was  discarding  the  vices  of 
Europe,  which  foresaw  all  the  glory  that  this  nation 
would  bestow  on  humanity,  and  the  enlightenment  of 
governments  that  would  ensue  from  the  novel  char- 
acter of  the  social  institutions,  and  the  new  type  of 
heroism,  of  which  Washington  and  America  were 
models  for  the  world  at  large,— France,  I  repeat, 
should  depart  from  established  usages,  and  do  honor 


156       THE  STORY  OF  WASHINGTON 

to  one  whose  fame  is  beyond  comparison  with  that 
of  others.  The  man  who,  among  the  decadence  of 
modern  ages,  first  dared  believe  that  he  could  inspire 
degenerate  nations  with  courage  to  rise  to  the  level 
of  republican  virtues,  lived  for  all  nations  and  for  all 
centuries. " 

These  tributes  from  the  two  greatest  nations  were 
sincere  despite  the  fact  that  one  of  them  had  just 
been  humiliated,  beaten  and  dismembered  by  his 
leadership,  and  the  other  was  only  recently  in  the 
midst  of  open  hostilities  toward  the  United  States, 
against  which  Washington  was  again  made  the  na- 
tional commander-in-chief,  thus  on  the  very  verge 
of  war  with  France.  Only  in  his  own  country  had 
Washington  been  the  object  of  the  bitterest  personal 
slander  and  political  calumny.  But,  at  his  death,  all 
ignorant  prejudice  and  foul-mouthed  envy  became 
silent  and  sought  to  be  hidden  from  the  public  pres- 
ence. In  him  there  was  greatness  that  could  not  be 
questioned  and  character  that  could  be  known  only 
to  be  praised.  The  vision  of  him  never  fails  from 
the  sky  of  American  ideals,  and  the  young  people  of 
this  nation  have  only  to  know  his  life  to  know  for 
what  kind  of  political  interest  each  one  should  labor 
in  the  name  of  American  liberty  and  the  progress  of 
an  American  humanity. 

Washington  regarded  parties  as  one  of  the  most 


PEACE  OF  HOME  AT  LAST  157 

inexcusable  and  disturbing  elements  in  the  political 
life  of  a  nation.  He  believed  in  men  and  principles, 
not  in  parties  and  platforms.  It  was  more  than  a 
hundred  years  after  his  death  before  the  people  of 
the  United  States  began  to  discard  allegiance  to  par- 
ties and  platforms  in  favor  of  men  and  the  principles 
of  humanity. 

When  misrepresentation  began  its  assault  upon 
him  in  the  presidency  as  it  had  done  in  the  army, 
Washington  wrote,  "The  man  who  means  to  commit 
no  wrong  will  never  be  guilty  of  enormities;  conse- 
quently he  can  never  be  unwilling  to  learn  what  are 
ascribed  to  him  as  foibles.  If  they  are  really  such, 
the  knowledge  of  them  in  a  well  disposed  mind  will 
go  halfway  towards  a  reform.  If  they  are  errors,  he 
can  explain  and  justify  the  motive  of  his  actions." 

It  is  thus  that  a  well-balanced  disposition  willingly 
receives  criticism,  whatever  its  motive,  for  any  value 
he  can  get  out  of  it,  with  little  concern  for  the  inten- 
tions of  the  criticism,  if  his  .own  purpose  is  fair  and 
just. 

He  greatly  deplored  the  misrepresentation  of  the 
partisan  newspapers,  believing  that  the  people  of  a 
nation  would  never  go  wrong  if  they  had  the  truth 
before  them  upon  which  to  make  up  their  minds. 
It  is  very  generally  true  that  parties  have  governed 
for  the  spoils  of  power  and  office.  Political  parties 


158       THE  STORY  OF  WASHINGTON 

have  very  often  fostered  false  argument  and  worse 
distortion  of  their  opponents'  meaning,  so  that  large 
numbers  of  honorable  and  honest-minded  persons 
have  been  misled  into  truly  fearful  fanaticism,  and 
more  fearful  support  of  purposes,  which,  if  they  had 
known,  they  would  have  abhorred. 


HI.    A  LITE-LIKE  SCENE  FROM  WASHINGTON 's  HOME  LIFE 

JOHN  BERNARD,  a  noted  English  actor,  who  came 
to  play  an  engagement  in  America  soon  after  Wash- 
ington had  retired  from  the  presidency,  tells  an  ex- 
perience which  gives  us  quite  a  picture  of  our  own,  in 
which  we  can  see  Washington  free  from  all  the 
glamor  of  fame  that  usually  half  hides  the  real  man 
from  our  view. 

Bernard  says  that  he  was  playing  at  Annapolis  in 
1798  when,  one  day,  he  went  out  riding  down  below 
Alexandria.  Just  as  he  was  coming  in  sight  of  a 
man  and  young  woman  riding  toward  him  in  a  chaise, 
the  carriage  was  overturned  and  the  two  were  thrown 
violently  out.  The  man  was  not  hurt  but  the  woman 
was  struck  unconscious.  The  actor  rode  hurriedly 
up,  and,  dismounting,  began  at  once  to  see  what  could 
be  done  for  the  woman.  Soon  she  returned  to  con- 


PEACE  OF  HOME  AT  LAST  159 

sciousness  with  a  volley  of  fierce  scolding  at  her  hus- 
band that  was  extremely  ludicrous,  if  not  ridiculous. 

Bernard  now  noticed  that  another  man  had  ridden 
up  and  was  helping  the  unfortunate  husband  to  ex- 
tricate the  horse  and  get  the  animal  upon  its  feet. 
The  three  men  then  set  to  work  to  get  the  heavy  car- 
riage, still  heavier  loaded  with  baggage,  back  into 
service.  It  was  a  hot  July  day  and  the  half  hour's 
work  was  a  rather  exhausting  task  for  two  who 
seemed  to  be  out  riding  for  mere  recreation. 

When  the  man  and  his  wife  were  once  more  in  the 
carriage,  ready  to  drive  on,  they  invited  the  two 
strangers  to  go  on  with  them  to  Alexandria  and  have 
something  to  drink 'in  appreciation  of  their  timely 
service,  but  both  declined,  and  the  chaise  started 
afresh  upon  its  journey. 

Bernard  says,  "My  companion,  after  an  exclama- 
tion at  the  heat,  offered  very  courteously  to  dust  my 
coat,  a  favor  the  return  of  which  enabled  me  to  take 
a  deliberate  survey  of  his  person.  He  was  a  tall, 
erect,  well-made  man,  evidently  advanced  in  years, 
but  who  appeared  to  have  retained  all  the  vigor  and 
elasticity  resulting  from  a  life  of  temperance  and 
exercise.  His  dress  was  a  blue  coat  buttoned  to  his 
chin  and  buckskin  breeches.  Though  the  instant  he 
took  off  his  hat  I  could  not  avoid  the  recognition  of 
familiar  lineaments,  which,  indeed,  I  was  in  the  habit 


160       THE  STORY  OF  WASHINGTON 

of  seeing  on  every  sign-post  and  over  every  fire- 
place, still  I  failed  to  identify  him,  and  to  my  sur- 
prise I  found  that  I  was  an  object  of  equal  specula- 
tion in  his  eyes. 

11  'Mr.  Bernard,  I  believe,'  he  said  after  a  mo- 
ment's pause,  and  then  spoke  of  having  seen  me  play 
in  Philadelphia,  following  at  once  with  an  invita- 
tion to  spend  a  couple  of  hours  in  rest  and  refresh- 
ment at  his  house,  which  he  pointed  out  in  the  dis- 
tance." 

It  then  came  clear  to  the  actor  who  was  his  dis- 
tinguished-looking companion. 

Mr.  Bernard  thus  continues  his  description  of  this 
experience,  "  'Mount  Vernon,'  I  exclaimed;  and  then, 
drawing  back  with  a  stare  of  wonder,  'Have  I  the 
honor  of  addressing  General  Washington*?' 

"With  a  smile  whose  expression  of  benevolence  I 
have  rarely  seen  equalled,  he  offered  his  hand  and  re- 
plied: 'An  odd  sort  of  introduction,  Mr.  Bernard; 
but  I  am  pleased  to  find  you  can  play  so  active  a  part 
in  private  without  a  prompter.' 

In  the  conversation  that  ensued  over  the  refresh- 
ments at  Mount  Vernon,  Mr.  Bernard  studied  his 
distinguished  host  with  deep  earnestness,  and  has 
left  us  a  vivid  picture  in  description  as  the  actor  saw 
him. 

He  says  that  in  the  conversation  Washington's 


PEACE  OF  HOME  AT  LAST  161 

face  did  not  present  much  variety  of  expression.  It 
wore  always  a  look  of  profound  thoughtfulness. 
Neither  was  there  much  change  in  the  tones  of  his 
voice,  but  its  intonations  were  rich  with  the  depths 
of  expression. 

The  keynote  of  his  talk  seemed  to  be  summed  up, 
as  the  actor  believed,  in  one  of  the  sentences  of  this 
conversation:  "I  am  a  man,  and  interested  in  all 
that  concerns  humanity."  This  is  in  truth  the  key- 
note of  any  mind  that  ever  achieves  anything  worth 
while.  One  does  for  self  or  party  or  nation  only  as 
it  is  for  humanity.  Any  other  deed  or  thought  is 
not  patriotism  but  partisanship.  America  is  that 
manhood  interested  with  all  its  available  means  in 
the  humanity  of  the  world. 

Mr.  Bernard,  with  what  seems  to  be  the  deep  in- 
sight that  a  great  actor  must  have  into  character  and 
human  nature,  says,  "He  spoke  like  a  man  who  had 
felt  as  much  as  he  had  reflected,  and  reflected  more 
than  he  had  spoken;  like  one  who  had  looked  upon 
society  rather  in  the  mass  than  in  detail,  and  who 
regarded  the  happiness  of  America  but  as  the  first 
link  in  a  series  of  universal  victories."  This  vision, 
opened  up  to  America  in  the  devastations  of  the 
Great  European  War  for  "a  place  in  the  sun,"  was 
enlarged  by  American  patriots,  not  for  any  closed-in 
nation,  but  for  the  rights  of  humanity. 


162       THE  STORY  OF  WASHINGTON 

It  chanced,  during  the  conversation,  that,  while 
Washington  was  comparing  English  liberty  as  sur- 
rounded by  walls,  with  American  liberty  as  in  the 
open,  a  black  man  came  in  with  a  jug  of  spring 
water. 

Washington  saw  the  actor  look  at  the  slave  and 
smile  with  an  inward  thought.  He  quickly  guessed 
at  the  thought  and  responded,  "When  we  profess, 
as  our  fundamental  principle,  that  liberty  is  the  in- 
alienable right  of  every  man,  we  do  not  include  mad- 
men or  idiots ;  liberty  in  their  hands  would  become 
a  scourge.  Till  the  mind  of  the  slave  has  been  edu- 
cated to  perceive  what  are  the  obligations  of  a  state 
of  freedom,  and  not  confound  a  man's  freedom  with 
a  brute's,  the  gift  would  insure  its  abuse." 

He  expressed  his  belief  that  slavery  must  some 
time  be  banished  for  the  unity  of  American  princi- 
ples, and,  in  this  connection,  it  should  be  remem- 
bered that,  by  will,  he  freed  all  his  own  slaves,  to  take 
place  at  the  death  of  his  wife. 


CHAPTER  XVI 
STANDARDS  OF  AMERICAN  PATRIOTISM 


I.      FOUNDATIONS 

THE  fundamental  statement  of  American  democ- 
racy and  freedom  is  to  be  found  in  the  first  two  para- 
graphs of  the  Declaration  of  Independence  and  in 
the  preamble  of  the  Constitution.  That  keynote  of 
humanity  there  expressed  is  as  follows : 

"We  hold  these  truths  to  be  self-evident,  that  all 
men  are  created  equal,  that  they  are  endowed  by  their 
Creator  with  certain  inalienable  Rights,  that  among 
these  are  Life,  Liberty  and  the  pursuit  of  Happiness ; 
that  to  secure  these  rights  Governments  are  insti- 
tuted among  Men,  deriving  their  just  powers  from 
the  consent  of  the  governed;  that,  whenever  any 
Form  of  Government  becomes  destructive  of  these 
ends,  it  is  the  Right  of  the  People  to  alter  or  to  abol- 
ish it,  and  to  institute  a  new  government,  laying  its 

163 


164       THE  STORY  OF  WASHINGTON 

foundation  on  such  principles,  and  organizing  its 
powers  in  such  form,  as  to  them  shall  seem  most  likely 
to  effect  their  Safety  and  Happiness." 

The  unity  of  purpose,  hereditary  in  responsibility 
to  all  native  Americans,  and  sworn  to  as  the  accepted 
duty  of  all  naturalized  citizens,  is  expressed  in  the 
last  sentence  of  the  Declaration : 

"And,  for  the  support  of  this  Declaration,  with  a 
firm  reliance  on  the  protection  of  Divine  Providence, 
we  mutually  pledge  to  each  other,  our  lives,  our  for- 
tunes, and  our  sacred  honor." 

The  preamble  of  the  Constitution  reaffirms  and  re- 
inforces the  American  ideal  of  a  progressive  and 
perfective  striving  toward  a  government  "of  the 
people,  by  the  people  and  for  the  people." 

It  is  as  follows : 

"We,  the  people  of  the  United  States,  in  order  to 
form  a  more  perfect  Union,  establish  Justice,  insure 
•domestic  Tranquillity,  provide  for  the  common  de- 
xence,  promote  the  general  Welfare,  and  secure  the 
Blessings  of  Liberty  to  ourselves  and  our  Posterity, 
do  ordain  and  establish  this  Constitution  of  the 
United  States  of  America. " 

The  oath  of  allegiance  into  which  we  are  born,  and 
which  becomes  the  measure  of  every  possible  Ameri- 
can, contains  the  following  inescapable  responsibil- 
ity: 


STANDARDS  OF  PATRIOTISM        165 

"I, ,  do  solemnly  affirm  that  I  will  sup- 
port and  defend  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States 
against  all  enemies,  foreign  and  domestic ;  that  I  will 
bear  true  faith  and  allegiance  to  the  same;  that  I 
take  this  obligation  freely,  without  any  mental  reser- 
vation or  purpose  of  evasion ;  and  that  I  will  well  and 
faithfully  discharge  the  duties  of  the  office  which  I 
am  about  to  enter:  So  help  me  God." 


n.      FREEDOM  OF  THE  WESTERN  HEMISPHERE 

The  Farewell  Address  of  Washington  to  Congress 
contains  advice  on  our  foreign  relations  which  is 
part  of  any  study  of  his  life.  The  most  important 
of  this  is  as  follows :  "The  great  rule  of  conduct  for 
us  in  regard  to  foreign  nations  is,  in  extending  our 
commercial  relations,  to  have  with  them  as  little  po- 
litical connection  as  possible.  So  far  as  we  have  al- 
ready formed  engagements  let  them  be  fulfilled  with 
perfect  good  faith.  Here  let  us  stop. 

"Europe  has  a  set  of  primary  interests  which  to  us 
have  none,  or  a  very  remote,  relation.  Hence  she 
must  be  engaged  in  frequent  controversies,  the  causes 
of  which  are  essentially  foreign  to  our  concerns. 
Hence,  therefore,  it  must  be  unwise  in  us  to  impli- 
cate ourselves  by  artificial  ties  in  the  ordinary  vicis- 


166       THE  STORY  OF  WASHINGTON 

situdes  of  her  politics  or  the  ordinary  combinations 
and  collisions  of  her  friendships  or  enmities. 

"Our  detached  and  distant  situation  invites  and 
enables  us  to  pursue  a  different  course.  If  we  re- 
main one  people,  under  an  efficient  government,  the 
period  is  not  far  off  when  we  may  defy  material  in- 
jury from  external  annoyance;  when  we  may  take 
such  an  attitude  as  will  cause  the  neutrality  we  may 
at  any  time  resolve  upon  to  be  scrupulously  re- 
spected; when  belligerent  nations,  under  the  impos- 
sibility of  making  acquisitions  upon  us,  will  not 
lightly  hazard  the  giving  us  provocation;  when  we 
may  choose  peace  or  war,  as  our  interest,  guided  by 
justice,  shall  counsel. 

"Why  forego  the  advantages  of  as  peculiar  a  situ- 
ation? Why  quit  our  own  to  stand  upon  foreign 
ground?  Why,  by  interweaving  our  destiny  with 
that  of  any  part  of  Europe,  entangle  our  peace  and 
prosperity  in  the  toils  of  European  ambition,  rival- 
ship,  interest,  humor  or  caprice  ?. 

"It  is  our  duty  to  steer  clear  of  permanent  alli- 
ances with  any  portion  of  the  foreign  world ;  so  far, 
I  mean,  as  we  are  now  at  liberty  to  do  it ;  for  let  me 
not  be  understood  as  capable  of  patronizing  infidelity 
to  existing  engagements.  I  hold  the  maxim  no  less 
applicable  to  public  than  to  private  affairs  that  hon- 
esty is  always  the  best  policy. 


STANDARDS  OF  PATRIOTISM        167 

"  Taking  care  always  to  keep  ourselves,  by  suitable 
establishments,  on  a  respectable  defensive  posture, 
we  may  safely  trust  to  temporary  alliances  for  ex- 
traordinary emergencies. ' ' 

Washington  in  his  will,  disposing  of  his  swords, 
says,  "  These  swords  are  accompanied  with  an  in- 
junction not  to  unsheath  them  for  the  purpose  of 
shedding  blood  except  it  be  for  self-defense,  or  in  de- 
fense of  their  country  and  its  rights,  and  in  the  latter 
case  to  keep  them  unsheathed,  and  prefer  falling 
with  them  in  their  hands  to  the  relinquishment 
thereof. " 

Related  to  the  Farewell  Address  and  as  a  corol- 
lary to  it  is  what  is  known  as  "The  Monroe  Doc- 
trine. " 

The  "Monroe  Doctrine"  as  a  policy  of  the  United 
States  is  founded  upon  two  passages  in  President 
Monroe's  message  to  Congress  on  Dec.  2, 1823.  These 
passages  follow: 

"In  the  discussion  to  which  this  interest  has  given 
rise,  and  in  the  arrangements  by  which  they  may  ter- 
minate, the  occasion  has  been  deemed  proper  for  as- 
serting, as  a  principle  in  which  rights  and  interests 
of  the  United  States  are  involved,  that  the  Ameri- 
can continents,  by  the  free  and  independent  condi- 
tion which  they  have  assumed  and  maintain,  are 


168       THE  STORY  OF  WASHINGTON 

henceforth  not  to  be  considered  as  subjects  for  fu- 
ture colonization  by  any  European  power.  *  *  * 
"We  owe  it,  therefore,  to  candor  and  to  the  amica- 
ble relations  existing  between  the  United  States  and 
those  powers  to  declare  that  we  should  consider  any 
attempt  on  their  part  to  extend  their  system  to  any 
portion  of  this  hemisphere  as  dangerous  to  our  peace 
and  safety.  With  the  existing  colonies  or  dependen- 
cies of  any  European  power  we  have  not  interfered 
and  shall  not  interfere.  But  with  the  governments 
who  have  declared  their  independence  and  maintain 
it,  and  whose  independence  we  have,  on  great  con- 
sideration and  on  just  principles,  acknowledged,  we 
could  not  view  any  interposition  for  the  purpose  of 
oppressing  them  or  controlling  in  any  other  manner 
their  destiny  by  any  European  power  in  any  other 
light  than  as  the  manifestation  of  an  unfriendly  dis- 
position toward  the  United  States." 

Two  notable  explanations  have  been  given,  as  fol- 
lows: 

Secretary  of  State  Olney  in  his  dispatch  of  July 
20,  1895,  on  the  Venezuelan  boundary  dispute,  said : 

"It  (the  Monroe  Doctrine)  does  not  establish  any 
general  protectorate  by  the  United  States  over  other 
American  States.  It  does  not  relieve  any  American 


169 


State  from  its  obligations  as  fixed  by  international 
law,  nor  prevent  any  European  power  directly  in- 
terested from  enforcing  such  obligations  or  from  in- 
flicting merited  punishment  for  the  breach  of  them." 

President  Roosevelt,  in  a  speech  in  1902  upon  the 
results  of  the  Spanish- American  war,  said: 

"The  Monroe  Doctrine  is  simply  a  statement  of 
our  very  firm  belief  that  the  nations  now  existing 
on  this  continent  must  be  left  to  work  out  their  own 
destinies  among  themselves,  and  that  this  continent 
is  no  longer  to  be  regarded  as  the  colonizing  ground 
of  any  European  power.  The  one  power  on  the  con- 
tinent that  can  make  the  power  effective  is,  of  course, 
ourselves;  for  in  the  world  as  it  is,  a  nation  which 
advances  a  given  doctrine,  likely  to  interfere  in  any 
way  with  other  nations,  must  possess  the  power  to 
back  it  up,  if  it  wishes  the  doctrine  to  be  respected. " 

President  Wilson  in  an  address  to  the  Senate  of 
the  United  States,  Jan.  22,  1917,  advised  an  Ameri- 
can interest  in  an  extension  of  the  Monroe  Doctrine. 
The  main  points  were  as  follows : 

"No  peace  can  last,  or  ought  to  last,  which  does 
not  recognize  and  accept  the  principle  that  govern- 


170       THE  STORY  OF  WASHINGTON 

ments  derive  all  their  just  powers  from  the  consent 
of  the  governed,  and  that  no  right  anywhere  exists 
to  hand  people  about  from  sovereignty  to  sovereignty 
as  if  they  were  property. 

"I  am  proposing,  as  it  were,  that  the  nations 
should  with  one  accord  adopt  the  doctrine  of  Presi- 
dent Monroe  as  the  doctrine  of  the  world :  That  no 
nation  should  seek  to  extend  its  policy  over  any  other 
nation  or  people,  but  that  every  people  should  be  left 
free  to  determine  its  own  policy,  its  own  way  of  de- 
velopment, unhindered,  unthreatened,  unafraid,  the 
little  along  with  the  great." 


HI.      THE  LOYALTY  OF  YOUTH 

Rome  and  Greece  in  their  age  of  world  dominion 
were  great  because  of  the  loyalty  and  nobility  of  their 
youth.  Patriotism  is  by  no  means  a  modern  virtue, 
and  it  is  often  wondered  if  the  youth  of  the  new 
world  is  alive  to  their  country's  honor  equal  to  the 
youth  of  the  ancient  world. 

An  example  of  that  ancient  patriotism  may  be 
shown  in  the  oath  of  the  young  men  of  Athens.  It 
is  as  follows : 


a 


We  will  never  bring  disgrace  to  this  our  city  by 


Washington  Tomb  —  Mount  Vernon,  Virginia. 


STANDARDS  OF  PATRIOTISM        171 

any  act  of  dishonesty  or  cowardice,  nor  ever  desert 
our  suffering  comrades  in  the  ranks.  We  will  fight 
for  the  ideals  and  sacred  things  of  the  city,  both  alone 
and  with  many;  we  will  revere  and  obey  the  city's 
laws  and  do  our  best  to  incite  a  like  respect  and  rev- 
erence in  those  about  us  who  are  prone  to  annul  or 
set  them  at  naught;  we  will  strive  unceasingly  to 
quicken  the  public's  sense  of  civic  duty.  Thus  in  all 
these  ways  we  will  transmit  this  city  not  only  not 
less  but  greater,  better  and  more  beautiful  than  it 
was  transmitted  to  us." 

The  young  men  of  revolutionary  times  were  full 
of  "the  Spirit  of  76."  During  the  troublous  days 
of  near-war  with  France,  in  the  administration  of 
John  Adams,  the  young  men  were  eager  to  sustain 
their  country's  honor.  As  a  good  example,  we  may 
read  with  profit  the  address  of  the  Harvard  College 
students,  which  was  published  in  The  Boston  Genii- 
nel,  May  19, 1798 : 

"  ADDRESS  TO  His  EXCELLENCY  JOHN  ADAMS, 
PRESIDENT  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

"Sir:  We  flatter  ourselves  you  will  not  be  dis- 
pleased at  hearing  that  the  walls  of  your  native  semi- 
nary are  now  inhabited  by  youth  possessing  senti- 
ments congenial  with  your  own.  We  do  not  pretend 
to  great  political  sagacity;  we  wish  only  to  convince 


172       THE  STORY  OF  WASHINGTON 

mankind  that  we  inherit  the  intrepid  spirit  of  our 
ancestors  and  disdain  submission  to  the  will  of  a 
rapacious,  lawless  and  imperious  nation.  Though  re- 
moved from  active  life,  we  have  watched  with  anx- 
iety the  interests  of  our  country.  We  have  seen  a 
nation  in  Europe  grasping  at  universal  conquest, 
trampling  on  the  laws  of  God  and  nations,  systema- 
tizing rapine  and  plunder,  destroying  foreign  gov- 
ernments by  the  strength  of  her  arms  or  the  pesti- 
lence of  her  embraces  and  scattering  principles  which 
subvert  social  order,  raise  the  storms  of  domestic 
faction  and  perpetuate  the  horrors  of  revolution.  We 
have  seen  this  same  nation  violating  our  neutral 
rights,  spurning  our  pacific  proposals,  her  piratical 
citizens  sweeping  our  ships  from  the  seas  and  venal 
presses  under  her  control  pouring  out  torrents  of 
abuse  on  men  who  have  grown  gray  in  our  service. 
We  have  seen  her  ministers  in  this  country  insulting 
our  government  by  a  daring,  unprecedented  and  con- 
temptuous appeal  to  the  people,  and  her  agents  at 
home  offering  conditions  which  slaves  whose  necks 
have  grown  to  the  yoke  would  reject  with  indigna- 
tion. We  have  seen  this,  sir,  and  our  youthful  blood 
has  boiled  within  us.  When,  in  opposition  to  such 
conduct,  we  contemplate  the  measures  of  our  own 
government,  we  cannot  but  admire  and  venerate  the 
unsullied  integrity,  the  decisive  prudence  and  digni- 


STANDARDS  OF  PATRIOTISM        173 

fied  firmness  which  have  uniformly  characterized 
your  administration.  Impressed  with  these  senti- 
ments, we  now  solemnly  offer  the  unwasted  ardor  and 
unimpaired  energies  of  our  youth  to  the  service  of 
our  country.  Our  lives  are  our  only  property ;  and 
we  were  not  the  sons  of  those  who  sealed  our  liberties 
with  their  blood  if  we  would  not  defend  with  these 
lives  that  soil  which  now  affords  a  peaceful  grave  to 
the  mouldering  bones  of  our  forefathers." 

That  address  lets  us  into  the  feeling  of  patriotism 
that  animated  the  people  in  the  days  of  Washington 
and  the  making  of  America.  We  can  easily  imagine 
the  makers  of  that  address  as  being  fired  with  fer- 
vor from  the  eloquence  of  Patrick  Henry,  the  bold 
assertions  of  Thomas  Paine,  and  the  unanswerable 
logic  of  Thomas  Jefferson. 

Only  a  few  years  before,  in  the  dark  hours  of  his 
country,  Thomas  Paine  had  put  new  life  into  the 
sorely  pressed  people  by  his  patriotic  pamphlets, 
from  one  of  which  we  quote  these  words : 

" These  are  the  times  that  try  men's  souls.  The 
summer  soldier  and  the  sunshine  patriot  will,  in  this 
crisis,  shrink  from  the  service  of  his  country;  but 
he  that  stands  it  now  deserves  the  love  and  thanks  of 
man  and  woman.  Tyranny,  like  Hell,  is  not  easily 
conquered ;  yet  we  have  this  consolation  with  us,  that 
the  harder  the  conflict,  the  more  glorious  the  triumph. 


174       THE  STORY  OF  WASHINGTON 

What  we  obtain  too  cheap,  we  esteem  too  lightly :  'tis 
dearness  only  that  gives  everything  its  value. 

"  Heaven  knows  how  to  put  a  proper  price  upon  its 
goods ;  and  it  would  be  strange  indeed  if  so  celestial 
article  as  freedom  should  not  be  highly  rated." 

Washington's  labor  was  likewise  lightened  by  the 
inspiring  patriotism  of  many  other  noble  makers  of 
the  new  America.  Thomas  Jefferson,  who  became 
the  third  president,  was  of  priceless  service.  His  call 
to  American  patriotism  may  be  well  illustrated  in  a 
few  of  his  most  quoted  statements : 

"The  man  who  loves  his  country  on  its  own  ac- 
count, and  not  merely  for  its  trappings  of  interest  or 
power,  can  never  be  divorced  from  it,  can  never  re- 
fuse to  come  forward  when  he  finds  that  it  is  en- 
gaged in  dangers  which  he  has  the  means  of  warding 
off." 

"The  first  foundations  of  the  social  compact  would 
be  broken  up  were  we  definitely  to  refuse  to  its  mem- 
bers the  protection  of  their  persons  and  property 
while  in  their  lawful  pursuits." 

"The  persons  and  property  of  our  citizens  are  en- 
titled to  the  protection  of  our  government  in  all 
places  where  they  may  lawfully  go." 

"We  must  make  the  interest  of  every  nation  stand 
surety  for  their  justice,  and  their  own  loss  to  follow 
injury  to  us  as  effect  follows  its  cause." 


"The  times  do  certainly  render  it  incumbent  on  all 
good  citizens,  attached  to  the  rights  and  honor  of 
their  country,  to  bury  in  oblivion  all  internal  differ- 
ences and  rally  round  the  standard  of  their  country 
in  opposition  to  the  outrages  of  foreign  nations." 

"We  are  alarmed  with  the  apprehensions  of  war, 
and  sincerely  anxious  that  it  may  be  avoided ;  but  not 
at  the  expense  either  of  our  faith  or  our  honor." 

"It  is  an  eternal  truth  that  acquiescence  under 
insult  is  not  the  way  to  escape  war." 

"When  wrongs  are  pressed  because  it  is  believed 
they  will  be  borne,  resistance  becomes  morality." 


CHAPTER   XVII 

CONCLUDING      REFLECTIONS      ON      THE 

CHARACTER  AND  CAREER  OF 

WASHINGTON 


I.      THE  WASHINGTON  IDEAL  AS  THE  FIRST  GREAT  AMERI- 
CAN IDEAL 

WASHINGTON'S  religious  belief  has  been  the  object 
of  considerable  controversy,  because  there  is  no 
standard  or  measure  for  a  man's  religious  belief  un- 
til the  one  investigating  it  gives  his  precise  defini- 
tion of  what  he  means  by  religion,  and  that  probably 
can  not  be  done,  for  any  basis  of  general  agreement. 
It  is  not  so  easy  to  map  out  the  interest  and  mean- 
ing of  human  feeling.  Somehow  no  great  man  has 
ever  felt  that  what  he  accomplished  was  done  by  his 
unaided  self.  Everyone  has  in  some  form  believed 
in  a  superior  Guide.  So  a  statement  of  Washing- 
ton in  1778  may  be  taken  as  the  keynote  of  his  re- 
ligious belief.  He  said,  "The  hand  of  Providence 

176 


CONCLUDING  REFLECTIONS         111 

has  been  so  conspicuous  in  all  this  that  he  must  be 
worse  than  an  infidel  that  lacks  faith,  and  more  than 
wicked  that  has  not  gratitude  enough  to  acknowl- 
edge his  obligations." 

His  faith  in  the  benevolence  of  order  and  law  as 
divinely  designed  is  shown  in  his  statement  in  1791 
that,  "The  great  Ruler  of  events  will  not  permit 
the  happiness  of  so  many  millions  to  be  destroyed." 
In  1792,  he  said,  "As  the  All- Wise  Disposer  of  events 
has  hitherto  watched  over  my  steps,  I  trust  that,  in 
the  important  one  I  may  be  soon  called  upon  to  take, 
he  will  mark  the  course  so  plainly  as  that  I  cannot 
mistake  the  way." 

That  this  faith  was  necessary  to  his  purpose  and 
mind,  to  help  him  through  the  long  series  of  trials, 
in  both  the  war  and  presidency,  no  one  can  doubt, 
who  reads  the  detailed  history  of  those  periods, — 
they  were  so  often  desperately  discouraging,  so  often 
both  helpless  and  hopeless  to  any  human  foresight 
or  judgment. 

A  few  phrases  taken  from  the  "Mount  Vernon 
Tribute"  express  the  Americanism  of  Washington. 
The  author  of  that  inscription  is  unknown,  but  who- 
ever it  was  he  knew.  The  tribute  was  transcribed 
from  a  manuscript  copy  on  the  back  of  a  picture 
frame  containing  a  portrait  of  Washington,  found 
hanging  in  one  of  the  rooms  at  Mount  Vernon  after 


178       THE  STORY  OF  WASHINGTON 

Washington's  death.  There  he  is  called  "The  De- 
fender of  His  Country,"  "The  Founder  of  Liberty," 
"The  Friend  of  Man,"  and  "Benefactor  of  Man- 
kind." "He  triumphantly  vindicated  the  Rights  of 
Humanity,"  "Magnanimous  in  Youth,  Glorious 
through  Life,  Great  in  Death";  "His  Highest  Ambi- 
tion the  Happiness  of  Mankind."  According  to  this 
definition  of  patriotism,  the  meaning  is  not  limited  to 
a  political  area  of  square  miles  or  boundary  lines. 

The  noble  tributes  to  Washington's  character  and 
work  would  fill  many  volumes,  but  a  few  will  show 
how  his  life  is  regarded  as  a  model  for  the  youths  of 
America. 

Senator  Vance  of  North  Carolina  said,  "The  youth 
of  America  who  aspire  to  promote  their  own  and 
their  country's  welfare  should  never  cease  to  gaze 
upon  his  great  example,  or  to  remember  that  the 
brightest  gems  in  the  crown  of  his  immortality,  the 
qualities  which  uphold  his  fame  on  earth  and  plead 
for  him  in  heaven,  were  those  which  characterized 
him  as  the  patient,  brave  Christian  gentleman." 

James  Bryce,  the  English  statesman,  publicist,  and 
historian,  said,  "Washington  stands  alone  and  un- 
approachable, like  a  snow-peak  rising  above  its  fel- 
lows into  the  clear  air  of  morning,  with  a  dignity, 
constancy,  and  purity  which  have  made  him  the  ideal 
type  of  civic  virtue  to  succeeding  generations." 


CONCLUDING  REFLECTIONS         179 

Henry  Lee,  who  was  beloved  by  Washington  like 
a  son,  has  given  us  the  great  picture  of  him,  "  First 
in  war,  first  in  peace,  first  in  the  hearts  of  his  coun- 
trymen, he  was  second  to  none  in  the  humble  and 
endearing  scenes  of  private  life;  pious,  just,  hu- 
mane, temperate,  and  sincere,  uniform,  dignified, 
and  commanding,  his  example  was  as  edifying  to  all 
around  him  as  were  the  effects  of  that  example 
lasting. " 

Lord  Byron  wrote, 

"Where  may  the  wearied  eyes  repose, 
When  gazing  on  the  great, 
Where  neither  guilty  glory  glows, 
Nor  despicable  state? 
Yes, — one,  the  first,  the  last,  the  best, 
The  Cincinnatus  of  the  West, 
Whom  envy  dared  not  hate, 
Bequeathed  the  name  of  Washington, 
To  make  men  blush,  there  was  but  one." 

Louis  Kossuth,  the  great  Hungarian  patriot,  said, 
"Let  him  who  looks  for  a  monument  to  Washington 
look  around  the  United  States.  Your  freedom,  your 
independence,  your  national  power,  your  prosper- 
ity, and  your  prodigious  growth  are  a  monument  to 
him." 


180       THE  STORY  OF  WASHINGTON 

Lord  Macaulay  says  that  he  had  in  his  character, 
"The  sobriety,  the  self-command,  the  perfect  sound- 
ness of  judgment,  the  perfect  rectitude  of  intention, 
to  which  the  history  of  revolutions  furnishes  no 
parallel,  or  furnishes  a  parallel  in  Washington 
alone." 

The  tribute  of  the  greatest  American  to  the  great- 
est American,  for,  so  alike  are  these  two  in  divinity 
of  mind  for  the  divinity  of  America  and  humanity 
that  they  can  thus  be  thought  of  only  as  one,  should 
be  known  to  all.  Abraham  Lincoln  says,  "Washing- 
ton's is  the  mightiest  name  on  earth — long  since 
mightiest  in  the  cause  of  civil  liberty ;  still  mightiest 
in  moral  reformation.  On  that  name  no  eulogy  is 
expected.  It  cannot  be.  To  add  brightness  to  the 
sun,  or  glory  to  the  name  of  Washington,  is  alike  im- 
possible. Let  none  attempt  it.  In  solemn  awe  pro- 
nounce the  name,  and  in  its  naked  deathless  splendor 
leave  it  shining  on." 


H.      NOT  BIRTH  BUT  CHARACTER  MAKES  AMERICANS 

WASHINGTON  and  Lincoln  are  two  names  insep- 
arately  connected  in  the  making  and  preservation  of 
America.  Each  became  the  leader  in  his  country's 


CONCLUDING  REFLECTIONS         181 

interests  at  a  period  of  almost  unspeakable  dissen- 
tion  and  of  indescribable  peril  to  freedom  as  the  con- 
dition of  social  civilization.  In  the  midst  of  that  ter- 
rible turmoil,  through  every  form  of  abuse,  intrigue 
and  obstruction,  they  kept  clear  the  way  that  Amer- 
ica should  go,  and  upheld  the  America  that  all  free- 
born  men  believed  to  be  the  ideal  and  opportunity  of 
humanity  and  mankind. 

Washington  is  often  declared  to  have  been  so  much 
of  his  life  an  Englishman  that  he  cannot  be  regarded 
as  a  real  born  American.  With  this  declaration  it  is 
also  asserted  that  Lincoln  was  the  first  complete 
representative  of  real  Americanism.  This  is  as  much 
as  to  say  that  one  born  into  the  richest  family  in  the 
early  days  of  a  town  is  not  as  much  of  a  citizen  as 
one  born  in  the  poorest  house  in  the  town  when  it  has 
become  a  city.  Search  can  nowhere  reveal  any  Amer- 
icanism in  either  of  those  great  souls  that  was  not 
also  in  the  other.  Physical  surroundings  had  much 
to  do  with  the  details  of  their  minds,  characters  and 
careers,  but  nothing  to  do  with  their  pmciples  of 
humanity  which  were  indistinguishably  the  same. 
The  glorious  largeness  of  their  hearts  and  their  man- 
hood made  the  same  supreme  American.  Though 
less  in  leadership  and  in  effect  upon  the  life  of  their 
country,  there  were  thousands,  if  not  millions,  as 
perfectly  synonymous  with  Americanism  as  either 


182       THE  STORY  OF  WASHINGTON 

Washington  or  Lincoln.  It  is  thus  character  and  not 
birth  that  makes  Americans,  and  therefore  it  is  not 
place  but  humanity  that  makes  America. 

The  hereditary  mansion  and  the  log  hut  were  but 
the  outer  form  of  those  two  great  men.  The  faith, 
hope  and  love  within  for  the  freedom  of  humanity, 
in  the  truth  that  makes  men  free,  were  the  same  in 
both  hut  and  mansion. 

Those  numerous  malcontents  who  villified  Wash- 
ington, and  whose  subsequents  poisoned  the  atmos- 
phere around  Lincoln,  could  not  see  an  hour  beyond 
their  own  dog's  day,  and  were  unable  to  measure  any 
value  greater  than  their  own  personal  interests.  The 
very  names  which  they  strove  to  make  great  in  the 
historical  vision  of  posterity  have  vanished,  or  their 
perversions  have  been  forgiven  as  repented  fully. 
In  contrast  to  them  are  such  noble  heroes  illustrated, 
for  instance  by  John  Dickinson,  who  did  not  believe 
it  was  their  duty  to  leave  wealth  to  their  children, 
but  it  was  necessary  to  leave  them  a  heritage  of  lib- 
erty; by  Samuel  Adams,  who  was  impoverished  by 
his  stand  for  American  freedom,  and  yet  scornfully 
refused  an  honored  office  that  was  meant  to  bribe  him 
away  from  the  American  cause;  by  Robert  Morris, 
who  gave  his  fortune  to  feed  the  starving  troops  in 
the  darkest  period  of  the  war;  and  by  Benjamin 
Franklin,  rich,  famous  and  old,  past  seventy  years 


CONCLUDING  REFLECTIONS         183 

of  age,  accepting  the  dangerous,  laborious  and  sac- 
rificing mission  to  France,  in  the  name  of  human 
union,  for  a  liberty-loving  world.  It  required  the 
profoundest  devotion  and  heroism  for  one  so  old  as 
Franklin  to  break  with  friends  of  a  lifetime,  as 
shown  when  he  wrote, 

"You  and  I  were  long  friends;  you  are  now  my 
enemy  and  I  am  yours, 

"B.  FRANKLIN. " 

Likewise,  when  he  signed  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence, saying,  "We  must  now  all  hang  together 
or  hang  separately. " 

The  foundations  of  Americanism  rest  on  Ameri- 
cans and  when  they  are  needed  they  always  come 
forth  to  keep  the  faith. 


HI.      THE  AMERICAN  LESSON  LEARNED  FROM  THE  GREAT- 
EST LEADERS  IN  THE  MAKING  OF  AMERICA 

WASHINGTON  was  no  prodigy,  and  it  belittles  both 
him  and  Lincoln  to  be  rated  as  miracles.  The  study 
of  their  lives  teaches  us  above  all  things  that  there 
was  no  accident  about  them.  They  built  themselves 


184       THE  STORY  OF  WASHINGTON 

up  out  of  the  material  of  their  experiences  and  cir- 
cumstances into  manhood  and  character,  ready  for 
the  tasks  of  their  human  world. 

No  man  of  colonial  times  lived  more  under  Eng- 
lish aristocratic  influence  than  Washington,  and  yet 
it  only  served  as  a  contrast  in  which  to  define  his 
principles  of  liberty,  his  meaning  of  manhood  and 
his  vision  of  humanity.  So,  also,  no  man  of  his  times 
was  more  under  the  belittling  trivialities  of  frontier 
destitution  and  ignorance  than  Abraham  Lincoln, 
but  it  only  served  as  inspiration  and  revelation  for 
his  moral  duty  in  the  supreme  crisis  of  the  American 
nation. 

The  lives  of  these  two  great  men,  from  such  widely 
different  origins,  and  yet  coming  to  oneness  in  such 
a  mutual  cause  and  character,  are  vital  inspiration  to 
every  aspiring  youth,  showing  that  the  value  of  char- 
acter is  in  every  one's  own  hands  if  he  will  but  look 
around  and  get  the  true  measure  of  what  are  life,  and 
mind,  and  humanity.  Those  careers  show  that  the 
rights  of  man  are  never  found  in  fragments,  nor  ex- 
clusive in  parties  or  single  nations. 

Lamed  says,  in  his  " Study  of  Greatness  in  Men," 
that  "A  man  more  perfectly  educated  than  Abra- 
ham Lincoln,  in  the  true  meaning  of  education,  did 
not  exist  in  the  world.  When  the  time  came  for  his 
doing  a  great  work,  he  had  perfected  his  powers,  and 


CONCLUDING  REFLECTIONS         185 

the  simple  story  of  the  simple  methods  of  self -cul- 
ture and  self -training,  by  which  he  was  nature-led  to 
that  perfect  result,  holds  the  whole  philosophy  of 
education." 

Washington's  life  was  a  fine  human  model  through 
all  the  periods  of  his  career,  but  the  heartening  les- 
son of  Lincoln  was  in  his  unconquerable  struggle  to 
master  a  way  of  life,  in  the  course  of  which  could 
appear  his  worthy  human  task. 

Lincoln's  man-making  process  especially  proves, 
even  as  Washington's  life  had  already  shown,  that 
there  must  be  a  fundamental  honesty  of  purpose  in 
building  up  the  mind  or  no  one  can  ever  arrive  at 
manhood,  character  or  more  abundant  life. 

Washington  and  Lincoln  were  continuously  ex- 
pressing themselves  in  word  or  deed,  but  always 
striving  for  the  reasonable  in  a  clear-minded  way. 
Their  mind-making  was  always  the  process  of 
achieving  a  humanity-mind  capable  of  clear  world- 
wisdom.  In  that  kingdom  alone  is  the  Americanism 
that  is  human  liberty,  the  rights  of  man  and  the 
moral  redemption  of  the  world. 

The  cruel  martyrdom  of  Lincoln's  death  no  doubt 
threw  a  glamor  of  hero-worship  over  Lincoln,  which 
does  him  more  injustice  than  honor,  for  the  simple 
reason  that  the  merit  of  his  life  belongs  to  his  own 
heroic  soul,  and  its  desperate  struggle  up  to  the  light. 


186       THE  STORY  OF  WASHINGTON 

Washington's  real  life  and  character  have  been  much 
obscured  by  the  romance  of  his  times  and  the  hero- 
worship  which  so  much  prevailed  in  the  literature  of 
his  period.  It  is  doubtless  of  more  real  value  to 
.American  patriotism,  personal  character  and  moral 
humanity,  for  both  the  heroic  and  the  trivial  to  fade 
from  our  interest  in  the  lives  of  Washington  and 
Lincoln,  and  from  the  meaning  of  their  lives  for  the 
rights  of  man.  We  need  to  appreciate  the  human 
struggle  within  themselves  that  made  them  admir- 
able men,  and  we  need  to  know  it  in  relation  to  the 
human  work  around  them  that  made  them  admirable 
Americans.  More  and  more  we  can  see  in  their  earn- 
est endeavor  for  the  right-minded  way,  not  only  the 
making  of  men  and  the  making  of  Americans,  but 
also  the  making  of  America  and  the  making  of  the 
World. 


END 


£  SOUTHERN  REGION*  ,«Q« 


A     000  286  532     7 


